GIFT  OF 


MUK-KONS-KWA,  OR  LITTLE  BEAR  WOMAN. 
(Frances  Slocum — The  Lost  Sister  of  Wyoming.) 


TRUE 

INDIAN  STORIES 


WITH 


GLOSSARY  OF  INDIANA 
INDIAN  NAMES 


BY 

JACOB  PIATT  DUNN 

SECRETARY  OF  THE   INDIANA   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


SENTINEL  PRINTING  COMPANY 

INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA 
1909 


COPYRIGHT,  1908 

BY  JACOB  TIATT  DUNN 

All  rights  reserved 


341924 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS i 

II.  THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 15 

III.  THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 48 

IV.  WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 72 

V.  THE  FZVLL  OF  THE  PROPHET 93 

VI.  WILLIAM     WELLS 117 

VII.  THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 131 

VIII.  THE   PIGEON   ROOST  MASSACRE 144 

IX.  THE  SERVICE  OF    LOGAN 164 

X.  THE  WALAM  OLUM 181 

XI.  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  FALLS 197 

XII.  THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 213 

XIII.  THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 234 

INDEX  GLOSSARY  OF  INDIANA  INDIAN  NAMES..     253 


1 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

FRANCES  SLOCUM Frontispiece 

GABRIEL    GODFROY 

SITE  OF  FORT  WAYNE  IN  1790 21 

GREENVILLE  TREATY    MEDAL 39 

KILSOKWA    46 

DELAWARE  COUNCIL  HOUSE 55 

SITE  OF  WHITE  RIVER  MISSION 63 

TECUMTHA 80 

MAP  OF  INDIANA  IN  1811 . . . 87 

TEMSKWAHTAWAH    facing  94 

PLAN  OF  BATTLE  OF  TIPPECANOE 105 

THE  PROPHET'S  ROCK 109 

WILLIAM  WELLS 118 

MAP  OF  CHICAGO  IX    l8l2 121 

FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE  MONUMENT 129 

SITE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 134 

DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON I41 

MAP  OF  PIGEON  ROOST  SETTLEMENT 146 

PIGEON  ROOST  MONUMENT 157 

FORT  WAYNE  ix   1812 167 

BLACK  HOOF 175 

ILLUSTRATION  OF  SIGN  LANGUAGE 183 

SAMPLE  PAGE  OF  WALAM  OLUM 190 

THE  FALLS  AT  PENDLETON 207 

ROCK  BLUFFS  ON  THE  MISSISSINEWA .- 215 

THE  DEAF  MAN'S  VILLAGE 223 

THE  FRANCES  SLOCUM  MONUMENT 231 

FOOT  OF  NASWAWKEE'S  HILL 237 

SITE  OF  MISSION  AT  TWIN  LAKES 245 

THE  DESCENT  OF  MONDAMIN 262 

METEAH    279 

SITE  OF  POST  OUIATANON 294 

MAP  OF  TREATY  SPRINGS 311 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS. 

No  part  of  the  United  States  is  richer  in 
the  tragedy,  romance  and  pathos  of  Indian 
history  than  the  region  included  in  the  old 
Territory  Northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  It 
might  be  called  the  empire  of  the  Algon- 
quian  tribes  within  our  boundaries;  for  al 
though  they  extended  far  into  British  Amer 
ica;  although  there  was  a  large  detached 
tribe — the  Blackf eet — in  the  West ;  although 
the  Lenni  Lenape  reached  away  to  the  Atlan 
tic  coast,  most  of  the  Algonquians  of  the 
United  States  were  here  at  the  earliest 
known  period,  and  the  Eastern  tribes  were 
thro\vn  back  here  as  settlement  progressed. 
It  was  here  that  they  made  their  last  stand 
for  their  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  and 
put  the  white  man  to  his  best  effort  to  con 
quer  them.  No  part  of  the  country  ever  pro 
duced  greater  Indians  than  Pontiac,  Tecum- 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

tha,   The   Little  Turtle,   Poch-gont'-she-he- 
16s,  and  Black  Hawk. 

When  the  French  entered  this  region  their 
first  task  was  to  aid  the  resident  tribes  in 
driving  back  the  Iroquois,  who  had  acquired 
firearms,  and  had  almost  overrun  the  coun 
try  to  the  Mississippi.  After  this  was  done 
there  was  comparative  peace  until  individual 
tribes  undertook  war  against  the  French; 
but  the  French  were  always  able  to  hold  the 
alliance  of  most  of  the  tribes,  and  by  their 
aid  almost  exterminated  the  Mascoutins  at 
Detroit  in  1712,  and  the  Foxes  in  northern 
Illinois  in  1730.  The  French  always  treated 
the  Indians  well  and  made  notable  efforts 
for  their  spiritual  welfare  as  well  as  for  their 
temporal  needs.  It  was  chiefly  to  a  mission 
ary  enterprise  that  Indiana's  first  permanent 
settlement  was  due.  Father  De  Beaubois, 
the  priest  at  Kaskaskia,  and  in  charge  of 
the  religious  interests  of  the  Illinois  settle 
ments,  desired  to  extend  his  work  by  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  post  on  the  Wabash  and  an 
assembling  of  Indians  there.  He  gained  the 
approval  of  the  Louisiana  authorities,  who 
also  desired  an  additional  supply  of  clergy 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

and  an  establishment  of  nuns,  of  whom  there 
were  none  in  Louisiana  at  the  time. 

In  1725  De  Beaubois  was  sent  to  France 
on  this  mission.  The  Chevalier  de  Bourg- 
mont  had  collected  twenty-two  chiefs  and 
representative  Indians  to  accompany  him, 
but  just  before  they  were  to  embark  the  ship 
in  which  they  were  going  sank  at  its  moor 
ings,  and  this  so  frightened  them  that  only 
half  a  dozen  of  the  Indians  could  be  induced 
to  make  the  journey.  Their  visit  in  France 
was  as  notable  an  event  in  the  world  of  fash 
ion  as  the  visit  of  Pocahontas  to  England, 
and  the  account  of  their  presentation  at  the 
court  and  attendant  celebrations  fills  thirty- 
three  pages  of  the  court  journal,  Le  Mercure 
de  France.  De  Beaubois  succeeded  in  his 
undertaking  and  sent  out  to  Louisiana  the 
nuns  who  founded  the  celebrated  Ursuline 
Convent  at  New  Orleans,  and  with  them 
Father  D'Outreleau,  who  was  to  be  the  first 
"Missionary  to  the  Ouabache."  Orders 
were  also  sent  for  the  establishment  of  a 
post.  The  contemplated  mission  did  not  suc 
ceed;  but  in  the  summer  of  1731  Sieur  de 
Vincennes  brought  a  small  party  of  soldiers 
and  a  band  of  Piankeshaws  from  the  Ver- 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

million  River  and  founded  the  post  which 
still  bears  his  name. 

By  this  time  the  efforts  of  the  English  to 
get  control  of  the  fur  trade  had  become 
more  serious,  and  they,  too,  had  enlisted  In 
dian  allies  both  in  the  north  and  in  the  south. 
First  came  the  disastrous  Chickasaw  cam 
paign  of  1736,  in  which  Vincennes  lost  his 
life;  and  after  that  intermittent  warfare  till 
the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  war.  In 
all  this  the  fighting  was  outside  of  our  re 
gion,  and  not  till  the  British  sought  to  take 
possession  of  the  Northwest  was  it  brought 
back  in  Pontiac's  war.  Again  there  was 
comparative  quiet  until  the  war  of  the  Revo 
lution,  which  inaugurated  the  contest  of  the 
American  and  the  Indian  in  this  section  for 
the  occupancy  of  the  soil.  Of  the  period 
then  beginning  I  have  sought  to  present 
some  authentic  stories  in  the  following 
pages.  It  would  require  volumes  to  present 
a  full  record  of  individual  adventure,  but  I 
have  aimed  to  give  some  illustrations  of  va 
rious  phases  of  the  contest,  of  battles  and 
massacres,  of  hardships,  of  white  and  Indian 
captivity. 

In  doing  this   I  have  had  especially  in 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

mind  the  preservation  of  the  Indian  names 
of  Indiana  in  their  proper  forms  and  with 
their  real  meanings.  This  will  be  regarded 
by  many  as  a  presumptuous  undertaking, 
and  with  some  reason.  Several  months  ago, 
in  a  letter  to  me  concerning  Indian  place 
names,  Gen.  R.  H.  Pratt,  of  Carlisle  School 
fame,  said:  "The  subject  has  not  specially 
interested  me  for  the  reason  that,  in  my  ex 
perience,  not  one  in  twenty  of  the  Indian 
names  in  use  could  be  recognized  by  any 
member  of  the  tribe  from  which  the  name 
was  derived.  The  attempts  to  perpetuate 
such  names  are  therefore  only  sentimental 
abortion."  This  is  very  true,  and  true  of  In 
diana  names  as  well  as  of  those  elsewhere, 
but  there  is  no  question  of  perpetuating  the 
names.  They  are  here  to  stay.  In  the  defi 
ant  words  of  Mrs.  Sigourney— 

'Their  name  is  on  your  waters— 

Ye  may  not  wash  it  out." 
And  nobody  desires  to  \vash  them  out. 
That  were  a  waste  of  energy  much  better 
directed  to  washing  something  else.  The 
practical  question  is  merely  whether  we  shall 
continue  their  use  without  an  effort  to  ascer 
tain  their  origin  and  meaning.  As  to  this, 

5 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  extent  of  their  corruption  seems  to  me  an 
attraction  rather  than  an  objection.  Nobody 
cares  much  for  a  puzzle  that  is  readily 
solved,  in  philology  or  in  any  other  line.  But 
there  is  at  least  passing  interest  in  identify 
ing  any  battered  and  distorted  relic ;  and  in 
reality  our  Indian  names  are  no  more  cor 
rupted  than  some  others.  Probably  no 
Frenchman  would  be  reminded  of  his  native 
tongue  by  "Picketwire,"  but  that  is  what  the 
cowboys  of  Colorado  and  New  Mexico  have 
made  of  the  Purgatoire  River.  Probably  no 
Frenchman  would  suspect  the  Smackover 
River  of  Arkansas  of  bearing  a  French 
name,  but  that  is  what  remains  of  "Chemin 
Couvert."  Our  own  Mary  Delome  has  rath 
er  a  French  air,  but  hardly  enough  to  sug 
gest  that  this  tributary  of  the  Maumee  was 
named  "Marais  de  1'Orme"  (Elm  Swamp). 
On  some  of  our  maps  of  Laporte  County  will 
be  found  "Lake  Dishmaugh,"  which  does  not 
look  much  like  French,  but  it  was  originally 
"Lac  du  Chemin,"  though  Chamberlain 
made  the  guess  that  it  had  been  "Lac  des 
Moines." 

Surely  no  Hindoo  would  lay  claim  to  "In 
diana"  as  of  his  language,  but  it  is  from  the 

6 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

same  root  as  "Hindoo"  itself,  for  it  comes 
from  "Sindhu,"  the  native  name  of  the  In 
dus — literally  "the  river" — whence  Sindh  or 
Scinde,  the  province  covering  the  delta.  This 
the  Persians  perverted"  to  "Hindu";  the 
Greeks  made  it  "Indos";  the  Romans  "In 
dus,"  and  from  them  it  passed  to  the  various 
European  forms.  When  Columbus  discov 
ered  America  he  supposed  it  was  India; 
hence,  he  called  the  natives  "Indios" ;  and  the 
name  has  abided.  At  the  treaty  of  Ft.  Stan- 
wix,  in  1768,  the  Indians  ceded  a  tract  of 
land  in  western  Pennsylvania  to  certain 
traders,  whose  goods  they  had  taken  or  de 
stroyed;  and  for  this  tract  and  for  the  com 
pany  organized  to  exploit  it,  the  name  "Indi 
ana"  was  evolved  by  the  English  owners.  It 
is  constructed  on  the  same  principle  as  Flor 
ida,  Georgia,  Virginia,  etc.,  and  means  a 
place  of  Indians,  or  pertaining  to  Indians. 
This  name  was  passed  on  to  us  when  Ohio 
was  cut  off  from  Northwest  Territory  in 
1800;  but  in  the  name  of  "Indiana  County," 
Pennsylvania,  it  still  appears  at  the  place  of 
its  birth. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  usually  no 
great  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  real  In- 

7 


GABRIEL  GODFROY. 
(Wah'-pah-nah-ki'-kah-pwah— or  White   Blossoms.) 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

dinn  name  if  it  is  of  a  living  language,  for  the 
Indians  usually  perpetuate  their  own  names, 
though  occasionally  they  have  their  own  cor 
ruptions.  Most  of  the  Miami  names  I  ob 
tained  from  Gabriel  Godfrey,  the  best  Miami 
interpreter  in  Indiana,  and  Kilsokwa,  the 
oldest  of  the  Indiana  Miamis,  and  one  who 
speaks  very  little  English.  For  the  Pota 
watomi  I  am  indebted  to  Thomas  Topash,  an 
intelligent  Potawatomi  of  Michigan ;  Quash- 
ma,  a  Chilocco  School  boy,  and  Capt.  J.  A. 
Scott,  of  Nadeau  Agency,  Kansas,  who 
called  to  his  aid  Mr.  Blandin,  the  agency  in 
terpreter,  and  old  Kack-kack  (Kiak-kiak— 
equivalent  to  the  American  term,  "chicken- 
hawk";  i.  e.,  any  of  the  larger  hawks),  re 
cently  deceased.  For  others  I  am  indebted 
largely  to  various  friends  who  made  inquiry 
of  Indians. 

It  is  much  to  be.regretted  that  there  is  not 
in  print  more  available  information  concern 
ing  the  Indian  languages,  and  especially  of 
the  Algonquian  languages,  from  which  so 
many  of  our  place  names  are  taken.  There 
is  considerable  material  for  the  Odjibwa  and 
the  dialects  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  but  scarcely 
anything  for  the  languages  of  the  important 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Potawatomi,  Shawnee  •  and  Miami  nations, 
and  what  little  there  is  is  not  entirely  relia 
ble.  And  this  is  true  of  many  other  Indian 
languages.  At  the  last  session  of  Congress 
(1907-8)  the  Indiana  Historical  Society 
made  an  earnest  effort  to  secure  a  small  ad 
ditional  appropriation  for  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology  for  taking  up  systematically  and 
specially  the  preservation  of  these  lan 
guages,  but  notwithstanding  the  co-opera 
tion  of  the  Bureau,  the  appropriation  was  re 
jected  by  the  House,  after  it  had  been  made 
by  the  Senate.  There  should  unquestionably 
be  an  united  effort  by  the  historical  societies 
of  the  country  to  have  this  work  done.  When 
we  consider  the  enormous  effort  that  has 
been  made  to  rescue  the  languages  of  Egypt, 
Babylon  and  other  ancient  countries,  it 
should  arouse  a  realization  of  the  importance 
of  preserving  the  living  Janguages  of  our 
own  country  while  there  is  yet  time,  and 
especially  so  because  these  are  not  written 
languages,  and  if  once  lost  they  are  lost  for 
ever. 

And  they  are  worth  preserving,  not  only 
for  the  influence  they  have  had  on  our  own 
language,  but  for  their  intrinsic  merit. 

10 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

Nearly  all  of  our  common  errors  as  to  Indian 
names  are  due  to  the  prevalent  impression 
that  Indian  languages  are  very  crude.  In 
reality  they  have  a  very  perfect  grammatical 
system  of  their  own,  but  differing  in  im 
portant  features  from  that  of  any  other 
known  languages.  The  grammatical  inflec 
tions  of  Algonquian  \vords  are  more  refined 
and  present  nicer  distinctions  of  meaning, 
not  only  than  those  of  the  English,  but  also 
than  those  of  any  European  language.  If 
anyone  doubts  this  statement  I  would  refer 
him  to  the  conjugation  of  the  verb  "waub"  of 
the  Odjibwa,  as  given  by  Schoolcraft  in  his 
"Archives,"  covering  ninety  quarto  pages; 
and  this  is  not  complete,  because  it  does  not 
cover  what  are  known  as  the  "transitions," 
i.  e.,  the  combinations  with  subject  and  ob 
ject  pronouns,  which  are  characteristic  of 
these  languages.  And  yet,  complicated  as 
this  might  seem,  it  is  on  a  very  simple  and 
rational  linguistic  system,  and  simply  ex 
presses  through  verbal  inflection  the  same 
ideas  that  we  express  through  various  forms 
of  circumlocution. 

I  doubt  that  anyone  has  ever  reproduced 
exactly  the  Indian  pronunciation  of  words. 

ii 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

All  of  the  Algonquian  languages  have  some 
sounds  that  are  not  found  in  the  English  lan 
guage,  and  none  of  them  have  all  of  the  Eng 
lish  sounds.  In  addition  to  this  they  all  have 
interchangeable  sounds.  For  example,  the 
sounds  of  "b"  or  "p"  may  be  used  at  the  will 
of  the  speaker  in  many  words.  Moreover, 
there  is  an  emphasis  and  accent  that  white 
men  rarely  acquire — in  fact,  I  have  never 
found  an  Indian  who  knew  a  white  man  that 
could  speak  his  language  just  as  the  Indians 
speak  it.  However,  I  have  endeavored  to 
reproduce  Indian  pronunciation,  as  it  sounds 
to  me,  as  nearly  as  possible  in  ordinary  Eng 
lish  characters,  with  a  few  additions.  I 
have  represented  long  "a"  as  in  "fate"  by 
"ay";  continental  "a"  as  in  "far"  by  "ah;" 
and  broad  "a"  as  in  "fall"  by  "aw."  I  have 
used  "q"  to  represent  a  sound  more  nearly 
resembling  German  "ch"  than  any  other  I 
know  of,  but  having  the  quality  of  "gh,"  pro 
nounced  in  the  same  way.  Nasalized  sounds 
are  indicated  by  a  superior  "n,"  and  are  pro 
nounced  as  in  the  French. 

If  the  effort  I  have  been  able  to  give  to  the 
subject  shall  promote  the  study  and  record 
of  the  Indian  languages,  I  shall  feel  largely 

12 


INTRODUCING  THE  INDIANS 

repaid  for  it,  for  the  opportunity  for  this 
work  is  rapidly  decreasing.  In  our  govern 
mental  Indian  schools  the  study  of  Indian 
languages  is  not  encouraged,  and  perhaps 
properly  so,  from  a  practical  point  of  view, 
for  the  primary  object  is  to  fit  the  Indian 
youth  to  support  themselves,  and  for  this  the 
use  of  the  English  language  is  vital.  It  is 
already  quite  common  to  find  "educated  In 
dians"  who  do  not  speak  their  own  language 
at  all,  and  obviously  the  more  rapid  the  proc 
ess  of  "Americanizing"  the  more  rapid  the 
extinction  of  the  American  languages.  It  is, 
therefore,  evident  that  the  work  should  be 
undertaken  as  speedily  as  possible. 

Prior  to  this  time  there  have  been  two  ef 
forts  at  collecting  Indian  place  names  of  In 
diana.  In  his  Indiana  Gazetteer  (1849)  Mr. 
Chamberlain  has  noted  a  number  of  Dela 
ware  names,  which  were  presumably  ob 
tained  from  white  men  who  had  some  famil 
iarity  with  the  Delaware  language.  There 
were  several  of  such  persons  in  the  State  at 
the  time.  Later  Daniel  Hough  made  a  more 
extended  effort  and  collected  nearly  every 
thing  then  available  in  print,  as  well  as  mak 
ing  some  investigations  among  the  Miami 

13 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Indians.  The  results  were  published  in  the 
Geological  Report  of  1882  in  the  form  of  a 
map,  with  comments  by  Judge  Hiram  Beck- 
with.  The  comments  are  of  no  practical 
value,  being  chiefly  attempts  to  deduce  Mi 
ami  and  Potawatomi  words  from  Odjibwa 
stems,  but  the  map  is  of  material  value,  al 
though  Mr.  Hough's  patient  work  has  been 
marred  in  several  instances  by  mistakes  of 
the  engraver. 


14 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  LITTLE  TURTLE. 

The  greatest  of  the  Miamis  and,  perhaps, 
by  the  standard  of  achievement,  which  is  the 
fairest  of  all  standards,  the  greatest  Indian 
the  world  has  known,  was  Mi'-shi-kin-noq'- 
kwa,  commonly  known  as  The  Little  Turtle, 
but  that  is  not  what  his  name  means.  Liter 
ally  it  means  The  Great  Turtle's  Wife,  but  it 
is  not  in  that  sense  that  it  was  applied  to  this 
great  chief. 

The  Miamis  have  specific  names  for  the 
most  common  turtles — at-che'-pong  for  the 
snapping  turtle,  ah-koot'-yah  for  the  soft- 
shell  turtle,  we-neet'-chah  for  the  box  turtle 
or  tortoise,  kach-kit'-yot  for  the  map  turtle, 
and  mi-shi-kin-noq'-kwa  for  the  painted  ter 
rapin.  This  last  is  the  commonest  of  all  the 
turtles  in  this  region,  and  the  most  gaudily 
colored,  which  probably  explains  its  Indian 
name,  for  who  should  be  handsomely  dressed 
if  not  the  wife  of  The  Great  Turtle,  who  typi- 

15 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

fied  the  Earth,  and  who  was  the  chief  benefi 
cent  manitou  of  the  Algonquian  tribes  in  the 
olden  time  ?  But  when  it  came  to  translation 
the  interpreters  knew  no  specific  English 
name  for  the  painted  terrapin,  and,  as  it  is  a 
little  turtle,  never  growing  more  than  six  or 
eight  inches  across,  they  conveyed  the  idea  as 
well  as  they  could  by  saying  "The  Little 
Turtle." 

The  Little  Turtle  was  rather  small  of  stat 
ure,  and  was  probably  a  puny  infant,  which 
may  account  for  his  name,  for  a  more 
sprawling,  helpless-looking  creature  than  a 
newly  hatched  painted  terrapin  can  hardly  be 
imagined.  It  has  been  stated  that  his  mother 
was  a  Mohegan  woman,  but  his  granddaugh 
ter  Kil-so'-kwa  (The  Setting  Sun)  says  that 
both  his  father  and  his  mother  were  full- 
blooded  Miamis.  He  was  born  near  the  pres 
ent  city  of  Ft.  Wayne,  about  1751.  Though 
small  of  stature,  he  was  both  brave  and  wise. 
He  had  also  a  remarkable  dignity  of  manner 
that  commanded  respect,  and  although  not  a 
hereditary  chief,  he  soon  rose  to  a  position  of 
leadership.  His  first  opportunity  for  special 
distinction  came  in  1780. 

Up  to  that  time  the  region  about  the  head- 

16 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

waters  of  the  Maumee  had  not  been  disturbed 
in  the  war  with  the  Americans,  but  had  been 
a  center,  easy  of  access  to  the  British,  from 
which  supplies  were  distributed  and  warriors 
were  sent  out  to  harass  the  frontiers.  It  had 
been  an  Indian  stronghold  for  many  years. 
Before  the  Miamis  dwelt  there  it  was  occu 
pied  by  the  Ottawas,  or  Pierced  Noses — so 
called  because  they  punctured  the  cartilage  of 
the  nose,  as  women  do  their  ears,  and  sus 
pended  ornaments  from  it — and  the  Maumee 
was  in  early  times  known  as  the  Ottawa 
River. 

At  the  site  of  Ft.  Wayne  was  the  town  of 
one  of  their  clans  or  divisions,  who  were 
called  Kis-ka-kons  or  Ki-ka-kons,  i.  e., 
Clipped  Hair,  or  as  the  French  called  them, 
Queues  Coupees,  because  they  shaved  the 
sides  of  their  heads  and  wore  their  hair  in  a 
bristling  band  across  the  head  from  front  to 
back.  This  name  always  attached  to  the 
place,  but  the  Delawares  corrupted  it  to  Ke- 
gey-unk,  which  would  mean  "old  place"  if  it 
meant  anything,  and  the  Miamis  to  Ke-ki- 
oon'-gi,  which  would  mean  "cut  place"  if  it 
meant  anything,  but  both  tribes  disclaim 
knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  these  names, 

17 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

which  is  very  proper  because  they  lost  the 
real  meaning  long  ago.  Here  and  at  smaller 
villages  in  the  vicinity  the  Miamis  had  dwelt 
for  nearly  a  century  in  apparent  security. 

But  in  1780  a  rude  shock  occurred.  Out 
from  the  East  there  came  Colonel  Le  Balme, 
a  French  officer,  who  came  over  with  Lafay 
ette  and  had  been  serving  with  the  Conti 
nental  army  in  New  England.  Inspired  per 
haps  by  the  success  of  George  Rogers  Clark, 
he  conceived  a  plan  for  capturing  Detroit 
with  a  force  raised  in  the  French  settlements. 
He  won  the  confidence  of  the  French  settlers 
on  the  Mississippi,  and  thirty  of  them  started 
with  him  on  his  expedition.  At  Vincennes 
he  recruited  nearly  as  many  more. 

The  expedition  was  well  managed  in  the 
earlier  part.  The  men  were  mounted,  and 
they  passed  up  the  Wabash  quickly  and  quiet 
ly,  making  the  journey  from  the  Wea  towns 
in  four  days,  and  taking  Ke-ki-oon'-gi  by 
surprise.  There  were  few  Indians  in  the 
town  and  they  fled,  as  did  the  British  traders, 
most  of  whom  were  of  French  birth.  The  in 
vaders  took  some  plunder  from  the  stores  and 
then  fell  back  to  the  Aboite  River,  where  they 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

encamped  in  fancied  security.  But  they 
counted  without  their  host. 

The  alarm  spread  rapidly  and  soon  came  to 
The  Little  Turtle,  who  quickly  gathered  a 
band  of  warriors  to  attack  the  enemy.  Find 
ing  Ke-ki-oon'-gi  abandoned,  they  followed 
back  the  trail  and  in  the  darkness  of  the  night 
struck  the  sleeping  camp.  La  Balme  had  not 
even  posted  sentinels,  and  he  and  his  men 
were  all  killed  except  a  young  man  named 
Rhy,  who  was  carried  captive  to  Canada  and 
handed  over  to  the  British  authorities.  He 
said  he  was  aid-de-camp  to  La  Balme,  and 
that  they  had  fallen  back  to  the  Aboite  to 
await  reinforcements  to  the  number  of  400, 
which  \vere  expected,  but  of  these  nothing 
further  was  ever  heard.  The  news  of  the  de 
struction  of  the  expedition  against  Detroit 
was  received  with  great  satisfaction  by  the 
British,  and  thenceforth  The  Little  Turtle 
was  the  recognized  war  chief  of  the  Miamis. 

It  has  been  surmised  by  local  historians 
that  the  Aboite  received  its  name  from  this 
event,  the  original  form  being  Abattoir, 
which  was  later  corrupted  to  the  present 
form.  This  is  wholly  unfounded,  as  the 
stream  is  called  Riviere  a  Boite  in  documents 

19 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

and  maps  of  earlier  date.  Boitte,  or  its  vari 
ant  bouette,  is  a  word  used  by  French  fisher 
men  for  minnows  that  are  used  as  bait  for 
larger  fish  and  their  name  for  the  stream  was 
River  of  Minnows.  The  Miamis  call  it  Na- 
kow'-e-se'-pe,  or  Sand  Creek. 

In  the  next  ten  years  there  was  an  abund 
ance  of  fighting,  of  Indian  raids  on  the  Ken 
tucky  settlements  and  all  along  the  frontier, 
with  counter  expeditions  by  the  whites.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  between  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  war  and  1790  the  Indians 
killed  1,500  people  and  ran  off  20,000  horses. 
They  did  the  greater  damage,  but  they  were 
being  gradually  forced  back  and  losing  their 
old  homes.  Many  retired  to  the  Miami  coun 
try,  and  in  1785  Ke-ki-oon'-gi  is  said  to  have 
had  a  population  of  1,000  warriors  of  various 
tribes.  But  the  white  man  was  growing 
weary  of  this  petty  and  harassing  warfare, 
and  this  feeling  was  increased  by  the  belief, 
supported  by  very  convincing  evidence,  that 
the  British,  who  still  held  the  region  about 
Detroit,  were  furnishing  supplies  to  the  In 
dians  and  urging  them  to  war.  It  was  de 
cided  that  a  crushing  blow  must  be  struck, 
and  in  1790  an  expedition  was  started 

20 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

against  the  Miami  town  under  command  of 
Gen.  Josiah  Harmar,  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  American  army. 

The  expedition  consisted  of  1,453  men, 
rank  and  file,  of  whom  320  were  regulars  and 
the  remainder  militia  and  volunteers  from 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  But 
the  latter  were  not  up  to  the  frontier  stand 
ard.  Many  were  boys  and  old  men,  and  most 
of  them  were  poorly  equipped.  They  were 
almost  without  discipline,  and  showed  a  great 
deal  of  insubordination.  There  was  jealousy 
among  the  officers  that  extended  to  the  men. 
Nevertheless,  the  army  moved  forward.  The 
advance  guard  of  600  men,  under  Col.  Har- 
din,  reached  Ke-ki-oon'-gi  on  October  15, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  army  two  days 
later.  They  found  the  place  deserted.  Most 
of  the  men  were  away  on  their  fall  hunt  and 
the  rest  had  hastily  retired. 

On  the  18th  Colonel  Trotter  was  sent  out 
with  300  men,  thirty  of  whom  w^ere  regulars, 
to  look  for  Indians,  while  the  remainder  of 
the  force  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  the 
villages  and  crops.  Trotter's  trip  was  un 
successful,  and  on  the  19th  Colonel  Hardin 
was  sent  out  with  the  same  command.  The 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

Indians  were  not  strong  enough  to  attack  the 
main  army,  but  The  Little  Turtle  had  col 
lected  one  hundred  warriors  and  he  placed 
them  in  ambush  some  ten  miles  northwest  of 
Ke-ki-oon'-gi  when  Hardin  was  reported 
coming.  Hardin  marched  into  the  ambush 
and  the  Indians  opened  fire  and  advanced. 
All  the  militiamen  except  nine  fled,  and  these, 
with  the  regulars,  were  quickly  hemmed  in 
and  subjected  to  a  pitiless  fire,  from  which 
only  one  escaped  to  tell  the  tale. 

On  the  same  day  the  army  left  Ke-ki-oon'- 
gi  and  moved  two  miles  down  the  Maumee  to 
a  Shawnee  town,  where  the  work  of  destruc 
tion  was  kept  up.  On  the  21st,  having  de 
stroyed  five  villages  and  20,000  bushels  of 
corn,  with  quantities  of  beans,  pumpkins,  hay 
and  fencing,  the  army  started  on  its  return 
and  marched  eight  miles  south.  That  night, 
at  the  request  of  Hardin,  who  desired  to  re 
trieve  his  misfortune  of  the  19th,  Harmar 
sent  back  a  force  of  four  hundred  men  under 
his  command,  of  whom  sixty  were  regulars 
under  Major  Wyllis. 

The  detachment  marched  in  three  divi 
sions  a  few  hundred  yards  apart,  intending 
cO  surprise  the  Indians,  who,  it  was  antici- 

23 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

pated,  would  return  to  their  villages  early  in 
the  morning.  But  The  Little  Turtle  was  not 
surprised.  A  small  force  of  Indians  ap 
peared  before  the  right  wing  and  when  at 
tacked  fled  up  the  St.  Joseph,  which  the  Mi- 
amis  called  K6-chis-ah-se-pe,  or  Bean  River, 
the  division,  contrary  to  orders,  following 
them  for  several  miles. 

Then  The  Little  Turtle,  with  his  main 
force,  fell  on  the  center  division,  which  in 
cluded  the  regulars.  The  regulars  fought 
bravely,  but  lost  so  heavily  that  they  were 
forced  to  retire  up  the  St.  Joseph.  They  were 
on  the  east  side  of  the  stream  and  the  Indians 
followed,  mostly  on  the  west  side,  pouring  in 
a  deadly  fire  from  behind  trees  and  other 
cover. 

At  last  the  remnant  met  the  returning  mili 
tia,  and  with  their  united  forces  they  com 
pelled  the  Indians  to  fall  back,  and  the  sol 
diers  rejoined  the  left  wing  at  Ke-ki-oon'-gi. 
From  there  they  returned  to  the  main  army 
without  pursuit,  the  regulars  having  lost  two 
officers  and  forty-eight  men  and  the  total  loss 
to  the  army  now  reaching  183  killed  and 
missing,  besides  many  wounded,  a  number  of 
whom  had  to  be  carried  on  stretchers.  Hardin 

24 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

desired  Harmar  to  go  back  with  the  army, 
but  a  council  of  officers  decided  that  it  was  in 
no  condition  to  do  so.  The  Indians  had  suf 
fered  large  loss  of  property,  but  wrere  left 
with  the  belief  that  they  had  driven  the 
Americans  back. 

The  expedition  of  Harmar  was  followed 
by  renewed  attacks  all  along  the  frontier,  the 
Indians  being  inspired  both  by  the  desire  for 
revenge  and  the  necessity  of  obtaining  sup 
plies  of  food.  A  bitter  cry  went  up  from  the 
settlers.  The  Ohio  company  voted  to  raise 
troops  to  protect  its  settlements.  Virginia 
provided  for  military  expeditions  from  Ken 
tucky,  which  was  then  part  of  its  domain. 

Congress  directed  an  expedition  under 
General  St.  Clair,  and  the  erection  of  forts  in 
the  Indian  country  to  guarantee  peace.  The 
Kentucky  expeditions  against  the  Wabash 
towns  were  successful,  and  early  in  Septem 
ber  St.  Glair's  forces  moved  northward  about 
twenty-five  miles  from  Fort  Washington  and 
erected  Fort  Hamilton,  on  the  Great  Miami 
River.  On  October  4  they  advanced  again, 
this  time  forty-two  miles,  and  erected  Fort 
Jefferson.  On  October  24  the  army  again  ad 
vanced,  and  on  November  3  reached  a  point 

25 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

on  the  headwaters  of  the  Wabash  near  where 
Fort  Recovery  was  afterward  established. 

The  advance  was  much  delayed  by  failure 
of  the  contractors  to  forward  provisions,  and 
the  army  was  weakened  by  numerous  deser 
tions,  and  by  sending  back  one  of  the  best 
regiments  in  search  of  deserters.  It  now 
numbered  about  2,000  men. 

Meanwhile  the  Indians  had  been  busy. 
They  had  been  kept  informed  of  the  Ameri 
can  plans  as  made  public  by  their  British 
friends  and  of  the  movements  on  the  frontier 
as  gathered  by  their  own  scouts.  Efforts  had 
been  made  to  unite  the  tribes  in  sufficient 
force  not  only  to  repel  invasion,  but  also  to 
drive  the  whites  from  the  region  north  of  the 
Ohio.  Foremost  in  these  efforts  were  The 
Little  Turtle,  the  Shawnee  chief  Blue  Jacket 
(Wey'-ah-pier-sen'-wah)  and  the  great  Del 
aware  war  chief  known  in  our  frontier  liter 
ature  asBuckongehelas  (properly  pronounced 
Poch-gont'-she-he'-los.  Heckewelder  writes 
it  Pachgantschihilas  and  translates  it  "A  ful- 
filler ;  one  who  succeeds  in  all  he  undertakes." 
This  is  figurative;  literally  it  means  "The 
Breaker  to  Pieces"). 

In  the  latter  part  of  October  these  and 
26 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

minor  chiefs  had  gathered  1,400  warriors  in 
the  vicinity  of  Ke-ki-oon'-gi,  and  these  as 
sembled  on  the  prairie,  five  miles  below  that 
place  on  the  St.  Marys  River,  which  the 
Miamis  called  Mah-may'-i-wah-se-pe'-way, 
or  Sturgeon  Creek,  on  account  of  the  large 
number  of  sturgeon  that  used  to  run  up  it  in 
the  spawning  season. 

There  was  a  division  of  sentiment  as  to 
who  should  have  the  chief  command  that 
threatened  for  a  time  to  become  serious. 
Some  favored  The  Little  Turtle  and  some 
Buckongehelas,  but  the  latter  was  not  a  man 
to  let  personal  consideration  stand  in  the  way 
of  success.  Dawson,  who  voiced  General 
Harrison's  opinion,  said  of  him:  "This  man 
possessed  all  the  qualities  of  a  hero ;  no  Chris 
tian  knight  was  ever  more  scrupulous  in  per 
forming  all  his  engagements  than  the  re 
nowned  Buckongehelas."  He  settled  the  con 
troversy  by  withdrawing  in  favor  of  The  Lit 
tle  Turtle  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the 
younger  and  more  active  man. 

And  now  The  Little  Turtle  had  no  ordi 
nary  Indian  foray  on  his  hands.  He  had  an 
army  to  deal  with,  and  it  must  be  handled  as 
an  army,  for  the  Indians  were  determined  not 

27 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

to  await  invasion  and  another  destruction  of 
their  winter  supplies.  They  must  be  fur 
nished  with  food  on  their  march  to  meet  the 
enemy. 

The  Little  Turtle  divided  his  warriors  into 
squads  or  messes  of  twenty  each,  and  ordered 
that  four  from  each  mess,  in  rotation,  should 
act  as  hunters  for  that  mess  for  one  day, 
bringing  in  at  noon  whatever  game  they  had 
obtained.  The  commander  was  well  informed 
as  to  the  enemy.  His  scouts  had  hovered 
about  the  army  for  a  month,  stealing  horses 
and  cutting  off  stragglers  at  every  oppor 
tunity.  In  the  night  of  November  3  he 
brought  his  warriors  close  in  around  St. 
Clair's  camp  and  prepared  for  the  attack. 

The  Americans  were  summoned  to  arms 
for  parade  at  daylight,  as  usual,  and  the  wait 
ing  Indians  silently  watched  their  maneu 
vers.  Half  an  hour  before  sunrise — near  6 
o'clock — they  were  dismissed  for  breakfast, 
and  as  they  dispersed  to  their  quarters  The 
Little  Turtle  gave  the  signal  for  attack.  The 
militia  outposts  were  quickly  driven  in,  and 
the  Indians  pressed  after,  keeping  under 
cover  and  maintaining  a  continuous  rifle  fire. 

The  troops  were  soon  put  in  position  and 
28 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

discharged  repeated  volleys  at  their  con 
cealed  foes,  but  with  little  effect.  Charge 
after  charge  was  made,  but  the  Indians  nim 
bly  retired  before  the  bayonets  and  were  back 
again  as  soon  as  the  soldiers  turned,  while  a 
destructive  fire  was  poured  into  the  charging 
columns  from  the  flanks.  The  Indians  did 
not  show  themselves  except  when  raised  by  a 
charge.  They  made  special  marks  of  the  of 
ficers  and  artillerymen. 

The  fight  was  one-sided  from  the  start, 
and  by  half-past  8  o'clock  the  army  was  help 
less.  The  artillery  was  silenced.  The  men 
were  huddling  in  the  center  of  the  camp,  deaf 
to  orders.  The  Indians  were  closing  in.  Most 
of  the  officers  were  dead,  and  those  remain 
ing  saw  that  the  only  hope  was  in  retreat.  .A 
few  brisk  charges  made  an  opening  to  the 
road,  and  those  who  were  able  to  go  made 
their  way  to  it  in  utter  rout.  And  as  they  fled 
the  panic  seemed  to  grow.  Fortunately  the 
Indians  pursued  for  only  four  or  five  miles, 
but  the  road  for  miles  beyond  that  was 
strewn  with  arms  and  accoutrements  of  men 
who  desired  nothing  to  impede  their  flight. 

The  Little  Turtle  had  vanquished  an 
American  army  50  per  cent,  larger  than  his 

29 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

own  and  had  inflicted  a  loss  of  37  officers,  and 
593  men  killed  and  31  officers  and  242  men 
wounded.  He  had  captured  all  the  enemy's 
artillery,  camp  equipage  and  supplies,  valued 
at  $32,800,  besides  much  private  property. 
He  had  blocked  for  the  time  being  the  inva 
sion  of  his  country. 

This  was  the  greatest  victory  ever  gained 
by  Indians  over  American  troops.  In  the 
Sioux  victories  at  Fort  Kearny  and  on  the 
Little  Big  Horn  the  Indians  greatly  outnum 
bered  the  whites.  The  Nez  Perces,  under 
Chief  Joseph,  met  equal  and  superior  forces 
of  soldiers,  but  their  successes  were  only  de 
fenses  and  skilful  retreats.  The  only  engage 
ment  comparable  with  the  defeat  of  St.  Clair 
was  Braddock's  defeat,  and  in  that  the  In 
dians  were  aided  and  officered  by  French 
men,  and  would  have  retreated  but  for  their 
officers,  while  the  Americans  were  not  al 
lowed  by  Braddock  to  fight  in  their  own  way. 
The  Little  Turtle's  victory  was  over  a  su 
perior  force,  on  its  own  chosen  ground  and 
was  achieved  wholly  by  Indian  military  skill. 

The  defeat  of  St.  Clair  was  a  fearful  blow 
to  the  frontier  settlements,  most  of  which 
were  at  once  abandoned,  except  those  ad  join- 
so 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

ing  the  forts.  Nearly  all  the  able-bodied  set 
tlers  had  gone  to  the  front,  and  there  was 
mourning  in  nearly  every  family.  The  In 
dians  were  greatly  emboldened,  and  war  par 
ties  appeared  all  along  the  lines  of  the  fron 
tier,  carrying  havoc  that  brought  forth  a  bit 
ter  cry  for  aid. 

President  Washington  realized  that  more 
adequate  means  must  be  taken  to  subdue  the 
Indians,  and  he  asked  Congress  for  authority 
to  raise  three  additional  regiments  of  foot 
and  a  squadron  of  horse.  There  was  opposi 
tion  to  this  in  Congress  on  account  of  the 
poverty  of  the  country,  and  it  was  even  pro 
posed  to  abandon  the  Northwest  Territory 
and  make  the  Ohio  River  the  boundary  of  the 
United  States.  But  such  sentiment  was  not 
popular,  and  there  was  soon  manifested  a 
widespread  determination  for  adequate  meas 
ures  for  conquering  the  Indians. 

Congress  provided  for  raising  an  army  of 
5,000  men,  and  President  Washington  called 
''Mad  Anthony"  Wrayne  from  his  farm  to 
command  it.  Meanwhile  every  effort  was 
made  to  settle  the  trouble  peacefully.  Com 
missioners  were  sent  to  the  Indians  through 
Canada,  and  councils  were  held,  but  the  In- 

31 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

dians  stubbornly  refused  to  treat  except  on 
condition  that  the  Americans  retire  from 
north  of  the  Ohio  and  make  it  the  boundary 
betw*een  them. 

Wayne  went  to  Pittsburg  in  June,  1792, 
and  began  the  work  of  organizing  the  army, 
but  no  offensive  movements  were  made  dur 
ing  that  year,  or  until  October,  1793,  when 
he  advanced  to  a  point  six  miles  beyond  Ft. 
Jefferson  and  built  Ft.  Greenville.  In  De 
cember  he  sent  a  detachment  forward  which 
took  possession  of  the  field  of  St.  Glair's  de 
feat  and  established  Ft.  Recovery  at  that 
point.  At  these  two  posts  Wayne  wintered 
his  army,  and  prepared  for  a  sure  blow  in  the 
coming  summer. 

Only  one  attack  was  made  on  Wayne's 
forces  in  1793.  On  October  17  a  train  of 
twenty  wagons,  under  convoy  of  two  officers 
and  ninety  men,  was  attacked  seven  miles 
north  of  Ft.  St.  Glair.  Most  of  the  men  fled, 
and  the  two  officers  and  thirteen  men  who  re 
mained,  were  killed.  The  Indians  captured 
seventy  horses  and  took  some  of  the  supplies, 
but  did  not  destroy  the  remainder. 

The  winter  passed  without  material  in 
cident,  Wayne  drilling  his  troops  and  mak- 

32 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

ing  everything  ready,  while  the  Indians  were 
striving  to  bring  other  tribes  to  their  aid.  In 
this  they  were  assisted  by  the  British,  espe 
cially  those  at  the  Roche  de  Bout  (Rock  of 
the  End),  a  place  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
Maumee  rapids,  so  called  from  a  massive 
rock  in  the  stream.  Here  the  British  had 
established  a  fort  after  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  far  within  the  American 
lines,  and  here  were  located  the  storehouses 
of  Colonel  McKee,  an  Indian  trader,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  obnoxious  of  the  British 
agents  in  urging  the  Indians  to  war. 

The  Little  Turtle  appeared  before  Ft. 
Recovery  on  June  30  with  a  force  of  1,500 
men,  a  large  number  of  whom  were  whites 
in  disguise.  They  had  expected  to  find  the 
cannon  they  had  captured  from  St.  Clair  and 
to  use  them  in  assaulting  the  fort,  but  they 
were  disappointed.  The  Americans  had  dis 
covered  their  hiding  places,  mostly  under 
logs,  and  they  were  now  mounted  in  the  fort. 
But  by  chance  they  struck  a  convoy  of  ninety 
riflemen  and  fifty  dragoons  under  Major 
McMahon,  who  were  returning  to  the  fort. 
They  at  once  attacked  and  overwhelmed  this 
force,  killing  five  officers  and  seventeen  men, 

33 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

wounding  thirty,  killing  and  wounding 
eighty-one  horses  and  capturing  204.  They 
then  attacked  the  fort  and  continued  their 
assault  through  most  of  the  following  day, 
but  their  rifles  were  of  little  effect  and  they 
withdrew. 

A  division  of  sentiment  now  arose  among 
the  Indians.  They  had  found  it  impossible 
to  surprise  Wayne  in  camp,  for  his  camps 
were  always  fortified  by  surrounding  walls 
of  logs  and  there  was  no  opportunity  to 
attack  in  the  open  except  when  the  troops 
were  ready  for  battle.  The  Little  Turtle  in 
sisted  that  this  was  hopeless  on  account  of 
Wayne's  superior  force;  that  it  was  useless 
to  try  to  surprise  "a  chief  who  always  slept 
with  one  eye  open,"  and  that  the  only  way 
to  fight  him  was  to  get  in  behind  him  and 
cut  off  his  convoys,  leaving  him  stranded  in 
the  wilderness.  But  they  had  succeeded 
only  twice  in  striking  convoys,  and  one  of 
the  successes  was  accidental.  The  British 
urged  an  attack  on  the  army  and  promised 
aid.  The  Little  Turtle  was  overruled  and 
even  accused  of  cowardice.  The  majority 
encouraged  by  their  success  with  St.  Clair, 
decided  on  a  pitched  battle  and  The  Little 

34 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

Turtle  had  no  choice  but  submission  to  the 
decision. 

General  Scott  on  July  26  joined  Wayne 
at  Ft.  Greenville  with  1,600  mounted  men 
from  Kentucky,  and  on  the  28th  the  army 
advanced.  On  August  8  they  reached  the 
Grand  Glaize  and  proceeded  to  build  Ft.  De 
fiance  at  the  junction  of  the  Auglaize  with 
the  Maumee.  On  the  13th  a  prisoner  was 
sent  out  with  a  peace  message,  advising  the 
Indians  to  listen  no  longer  to  "the  bad  white 
men  at  the  foot  of  the  rapids,"  but  to  send 
peace  deputies  at  once  if  they  desired  to  save 
themselves  and  their  women  and  children 
from  famine  and  danger. 

On  the  15th,  having  received  no  answer, 
the  army  advanced  down  the  Maumee,  and 
on  the  18th,  having  marched  forty-one  miles 
from  Ft.  Defiance,  the  soldiers  began  erect 
ing  a  light  fortification  for  the  baggage,  in 
preparation  for  active  work.  On  the  morn 
ing  of  the  20th  they  advanced  about  five 
miles,  when  they  came  to  a  place  known  as 
the  Fallen  Timbers — a  thick  wood  in  which 
the  ground  was  covered  with  old  trunks  of 
trees,  probably  blown  down  by  a  tornado, 
which  prevented  the  action  of  cavalry.  Here 

35 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  Indians  were  lying  in  ambush,  to  give 
battle. 

The  advance  guard  was  received  with  so 
severe  a  fire  that  it  was  forced  to  fall  back, 
although  under  orders,  in  case  of  attack,  to 
hold  its  position  until  the  army  could  come 
to  its  support.  But  there  was  no  other  con 
fusion. 

Wayne  at  once  dispatched  his  cavalry  on 
both  flanks  to  gain  the  enemy's  rear,  and 
ordered  his  infantry,  who  were  marching 
with  loaded  guns  and  fixed  bayonets,  to  ad 
vance,  raise  the  Indians  with  the  bayonet, 
fire  at  short  range,  and  chase  them  out  of  the 
woods  without  stopping.  The  movement 
was  carried  out  to  the  letter.  In  the  course 
of  an  hour  the  Indians  were  driven  over  two 
miles,  and,  being  refused  admission  to  Ft. 
Miami — the  British  post — they  dispersed  in 
all  directions,  the  cavalry  not  having  had 
time  to  reach  their  position. 

The  pursuit  was  carried  almost  under  the 
walls  of  Fort  Miami,  whose  commander 
sent  a  protest  to  Wayne  against  this  "insult 
to  the  British  flag."  Wayne  replied  with  a 
demand  for  the  garrison's  removal  from 
United  States  territory,  to  which  the  com- 

36 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

mancler  declined  to  accede.  But  he  offered 
no  interference  to  the  army,  which  remained 
there  for  three  days,  destroying  the  crops 
and  property  of  the  Indians  and  the  store 
houses  of  Colonel  McKee,  which  were  within 
pistol  shot  of  the  fort. 

The  loss  of  the  Americans  was  compara 
tively  small,  being  five  officers  and  twenty- 
eight  men  killed,  and  sixteen  officers  and 
eighty-four  men  wounded.  Of  the  wound 
ed  eleven  died.  The  loss  to  the  Indians  was 
never  definitely  learned,  but  it  was  much 
larger  than  that  of  the  whites. 

On  the  24th  the  army  started  on  its  re 
turn  to  Ft.  Defiance,  laying  waste  the  corn 
fields  and  villages  for  fifty  miles  on  each 
side  of  the  river.  Wayne  reported  that  the 
margins  of  the  Maumee  and  Auglaize  were 
like  "one  continued  village"  for  miles,  and 
that  he  never  "before  beheld  such  immense 
fields  of  corn  in  any  part  of  America,  from 
Canada  to  Florida."  The  work  of  destruc 
tion  was  continued  at  Ft.  Defiance,  and  the 
fort  was  strengthened  for  permanent  oc 
cupancy. 

On  September  14  the  army  marched  to 
Ke-ki-oon'-gi  and  began  building  the  fort  op- 

37 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

posite  the  Indian  town,  which  was  named  Ft. 
Wayne  by  Colonel  Hamtramck,  who  was 
left  in  command.  The  Indian  dominion  of 
"the  Glorious  Gate  of  the  Wabash"  was  end 
ed  forever,  and  it  is  fitting  that  the  name  of 
the  man  who  ended  it  should  remain  as  a 
permanent  memorial.  But  the  old  memories 
linger  also,  and  to  this  day  the  older  Miamis 
call  the  place  Ke-ki-oon'-gi. 

The  spirit  of  the  Indians  was  broken. 
They  suffered  much  during  the  winter, 
though  the  British  furnished  them  extensive 
supplies.  The  British  governor  Simcoe,  aid 
ed  by  Colonel  McKee  and  the  Mohawk  chief, 
Captain  Brant,  tried  to  unite  them  for  fur 
ther  resistance,  but  in  vain.  The  action  of 
the  British  in  refusing  admission  even  to 
wounded  Indians  at  Ft.  Miami  and  permit 
ting  Wayne's  men  to  destroy  goods  of  both 
Indians  and  British  under  the  guns  of  the 
fort,  had  convinced  them  that  the  British 
were  afraid  of  the  Americans. 

Wayne  had  been  a  revelation  to  them.  The 
Miamis  named  him  The  Wind  (a-lom'- 
seng),  on  account  of  the  way  he  had  swept 
them  from  the  Fallen  Timbers ;  but  the  Dela- 
wares  named  him  The  Blacksnake  (Suk- 

38 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

ach'-gook),  because  they  esteem  the  black- 
snake  the  wisest  and  most  cunning  of  ani 
mals,  and  the  most  destructive  to  smaller  an 
imals  and  birds.  With  very  little  resistance 
the  Indians  obeyed  his  summons  to  assemble 
at  Ft.  Greenville  in  the  summer  of  1795,  and 
on  August  3  a  treaty,  which  he  dictated,  was 
concluded. 

The  Little  Turtle  now  realized,  as  few 
others  did,  that  a  new  era  had  come  to  his 
people,  which  called  for  a  change  in  them. 
In  the  past  he  had  contended  against  the 
vices  of  barbarism,  and  had  been  the  chief 
agent  in  suppressing  "the  ancient  sacrificial 
rites,"  including  cannibalism,  which  had 
been  practiced  among  the  Miamis  as  late  as 
the  Revolutionary  war. 

He  now  entered  on  a  campaign  against  the 
vices  of  civilization,  and  an  effort  to  gain  its 
advantages.  Most  destructive  of  the  former 
was  intemperance.  He  visited  the  Legisla 
tures  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  as  well  as  Con 
gress,  and  begged  for  the  prohibition  of  the 
liquor  traffic  among  the  Indians.  In  a  speech, 
which  was  taken  down  in  shorthand  at  the 
time,  he  denounced  it  as  "an  evil  that  has 
had  so  much  ruin  in  it,  that  has  destroyed 

40 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

so  many  of  our  lives,  that  it  causes  our  young 
men  to  say,  'We  had  better  be  at  war  with 
the  white  people.  This  liquor  that  they  in 
troduce  into  our  country  is  more  to  be  feared 
than  the  gun  or  the  tomahawk;  there  are 
more  of  us  dead  since  the  treaty  of  Green 
ville  than  we  lost  by  the  years  of  war  before, 
and  it  is  all  owing  to  the  introduction  of  this 
liquor  among  us/  : 

While  on  a  visit  to  Washington  The  Lit 
tle  Turtle  learned  of  the  benefits  of  inocula 
tion  as  a  preventive  of  smallpox.  He  at 
once  had  himself  and  the  members  of  his 
party  inoculated,  and  he  also  carried  this 
remedy  to  his  people,  which  was  the  means 
of  saving  the  lives  of  many  of  them  and  of 
the  surrounding  tribes. 

He  tried  to  introduce  a  civilized  system 
of  agriculture  among  the  Miamis,  and  at  his 
request  the  Society  of  Friends  of  Balti 
more,  established  a  training  farm  on  the 
Wabash.  It  was  located  at  a  place  known 
as  "The  Boatyard/'  because  General  Wilkin 
son  built  a  fleet  of  boats  there  to  transport 
his  baggage  down  the  river.  This  is  some 
two  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Hunting- 
ton,  the  site  of  which  was  known  to  the  Mi- 

41 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

amis  as  We'-pe-chah'-ki-oong  or  "The  Place 
of  Flints,"  because  there  is  here  a  flint  ridge 
running  across  the  limestone,  from  which 
they  obtained  abundant  supplies  of  flints. 

The  farm  was  not  a  success,  however,  and 
Philip  Denis,  the  hard-headed  Quaker,  who 
was  put  in  charge  of  it,  abandoned  it  at  the 
end  of  the  first  season  because  his  Indian 
pupils  gave  no  co-operation  beyond  sitting 
on  the  fence  and  watching  him  work. 

The  Little  Turtle  also  endeavored  to  pro 
mote  friendship  with  the  Americans,  and  op 
posed  British  influences,  which  brought  him 
into  opposition  to  Tecumtha.  This  opposi 
tion  was  much  aggravated  by  his  supporting 
the  treaties  made  by  Governor  Harrison  for 
lands  in  the  southern  part  of  Indiana.  As 
the  Government  had  built  a  substantial  log- 
house  for  him  at  his  town  on  Eel  River  and 
otherwise  encouraged  him  in  his  efforts  for 
civilization,  his  enemies  found  many  listen 
ers  to  their  insinuations  that  he  had  sold 
himself  to  the  Americans.  This  feeling  was 
worked  up  to  such  a  point  that  in  1810  John 
Johnston,  the  Indian  agent,  wrote  to  Gov 
ernor  Harrison:  "This  Turtle  is  contempti 
ble  beyond  description  in  the  eyes  of  the  In- 

42 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

dians."  Nevertheless  he  still  retained  his  in 
fluence  with  most  of  the  Miamis,  and  very 
few  of  them  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Tippe- 
canoe.  After  that  event,  his  wisdom  was 
again  generally  recognized,  and  he  regained 
much  of  his  former  standing. 

In  his  later  years  the  old  chief  was  much 
troubled  by  rheumatism  and  gout,  and  was 
treated  for  them  by  the  army  surgeons  at 
Ft.  Wayne.  One  day  an  interpreter  rallied 
him  with  a  suggestion  that  gout  was  sup 
posed  to  be  a  disease  of  fine  gentlemen.  The 
Little  Turtle  quickly  replied:  "I  have  al 
ways  thought  that  I  was  a  gentleman." 

And  he  was.  He  had  not  only  a  philo 
sophic  mind  and  a  ready  wit,  but  also  a  no 
table  instinct  for  the  proprieties  that  fitted 
him  for  any  social  surroundings.  These 
qualities  attracted  attention  among  the 
whites  wherever  he  went.  One  who  met  him 
while  on  a  trip  East  in  1807,  writes: 

"The  Little  Turtle  and  Rusheville,  the 
Beaver  and  Crow  (Delawares),  and  the 
two  Shawnees,  were  dressed  in  a  costume 
usually  worn  by  our  own  citizens  of  the 
time — rcoats  of  blue  cloth,  gilt  buttons,  pan 
taloons  of  the  same  color,  and  buff  waist- 

43 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

coats ;  but  they  all  wore  leggings,  moccasins 
and  large  gold  rings  in  their  ears.  The  Lit 
tle  Turtle  exceeded  all  his  brother  chiefs  in 
dignity  of  appearance — a  dignity  which  re 
sulted  from  the  character  of  his  mind.  He 
was  of  medium  stature,  with  a  complexion 
of  the  palest  copper  shade,  and  did  not  wear 
paint.  His  hair  was  a  full  suit,  and  without 
any  admixture  of  gray,  although  from  what 
he  said  of  his  age,  at  Ft.  Wayne  in  1804,  be 
ing  then  fifty-three,  he  must  at  this  time  have 
been  fifty-seven  years  old.  His  dress  was 
completed  by  a  long  red  military  sash  around 
the  waist,  and  his  hat  (a  chapeau  bras)  was 
ornamented  by  a  red  feather.  Immediately 
on  entering  the  house,  he  took  off  his  hat 
and  carried  it  under  his  arm  during  the  rest 
of  the  visit.  His  appearance  and  manners, 
which  were  graceful  and  agreeable  in  an 
uncommon  degree,  were  admired  by  all  who 
made  his  acquaintance. 

The  "Rusheville"  here  mentioned  was  The 
Little  Turtle's  nephew,  Jean  Baptiste  Rich- 
ardville,  who  succeeded  him  as  head  chief  of 
the  Miamis.  His  Indian  name  was  Pin-je'- 
wah,  or  the  Wild  Cat.  He  was  the  son  of 
The  Little  Turtle's  sister,  Tah-kum-wah 

44 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

(On  the  Other  Side,  i.  e.,  in  position,  as 
across  a  river),  and  a  scion  of  the  noble 
French  house  of  Drouet  de  Richardville. 
This  corruption  of  his  name  is  quite  com 
mon,  and  a  further  twist  is  found  in  the 
name  of  Russiaville,  Howard  County,  which 
was  originallly  intended  to  perpetuate  his 
memory. 

We  have  also  attempted  to  commemorate 
a  grandson  of  The  Little  Turtle  in  the  name 
of  the  town  of  Coesse,  in  Whitley  County, 
But  this  is  our  reproduction  of  his  Potawa- 
tomi  nickname,  Ku-wa'-ze,  or  as  the  Miamis 
pronounce  it,  K6-wa-zi,  meaning  "old,"  or 
as  here  "old  man/'  He  was  the  son  of  The 
Little  Turtle's  son,  Ma-kot'-ta-mon'-gwah 
(Black  Loon).  His  cousin,  Kil-so-kwa,  says 
his  real  name  was  M'tek'-yah,  meaning  "for 
est"  or  "woods" ;  but  the  nickname  supplant 
ed  the  true  name,  and  in  the  treaties  he  ap 
pears  as  "Co-i-sa,"  "Ko-es-say,"  or  "Ko- 


was-see." 


Kil-so-kwa  is  the  daughter  of  The  Little 
Turtle's  son  Wok-shin'-gah  (the  Crescent 
Moon — literally  "lying  crooked").  Her 
mother's  name  was  Nah-wa'-kah-mo'-kwa 
(the  First  Snow  Woman — literally,  the  one 

45 


KILSOKWA— THE  SETTING  SUN. 
(Granddaughter  of  The  Little  Turtle.) 


THE  LITTLE  TURTLE 

that  comes  first).  She  says  that  her  own 
name  means  "the  setting  sun,"  though  lit 
erally  it  appears  to  mean  only  "the  sun" 
(feminine)  or  "sun  woman."  Kil-so-kwa 
married  Antoine  Revarre,  a  French-Cana 
dian,  and  now  lives  near  Roanoke,  Ind.,  with 
her  son  Antony  Revarre,  whose  Indian  name 
is  Wah'-pi-mon'-gwah  (White  Loon),  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-seven  years. 

The  Little  Turtle  prepared  to  take  the  side 
of  the  Americans  in  the  war  of  1812,  but  he 
was  destined  not  to  participate  in  that  con 
flict.  His  old  enemy,  the  gout,  carried  him 
off  on  July  14,  1812,  while  at  Ft.  Wayne  for 
treatment.  He  was  buried  on  the  bank  of 
the  St.  Joseph,  above  Ft.  Wayne,  with  mili 
tary  honors.  For  a  generation  or  more  the 
Indians  were  accustomed  to  visit  his  grave 
and  pay  tribute  to  his  memory,  and  well 
they  might,  for  if  ever  man  served  his  gen 
eration  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  this  man 
had  done  so. 


47 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES. 

It  was  at  the  close  of  May,  1801,  that  the 
Moravian  missionaries  came  to  Wah'-pi-kah- 
me'-kunk,  standing  where  the  city  of  Muncie 
now  is,  or  rather  on  the  bluffs  across  the 
river  from  Muncie.  This  was  the  eastern 
most  of  the  Delaware  towns  on  White  River, 
and  that  was  the  cause  of  its  name,  for  the 
trails  from  the  east  and  north  and  south  all 
struck  it  first,  and  so  it  was  by  pre-eminence 
the  White  River  Town.  This  is  what  the 
name  means,  for  in  the  early  times  the  Dela- 
wares  adopted  the  Miami  name  of  the  river, 
Wah'-pi-kah-me'-ki  (White  Waters — varied 
to  O'-pee-ko-me'-kah  in  the  Unami  dialect) 
though  in  later  times  they  commonly  called 
it  Wah'-pi-ha'-ni,  which  in  their  own  lan 
guage  means  literally  White  River. 

The  missionaries  were  Brother  John  P. 
Kluge  and  his  wife,  and  Abraham  Lucken- 
bach,  a  young  man  of  twenty-four  years,  all 

48 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

of  whom  had  been  called  to  the  work  from 
Pennsylvania,  and  had  passed  the  preceding 
winter  with  Zeisberger  at  Goshen,  on  the 
Muskingum,  learning  the  Delaware  lan 
guage.  They  had  reached  this  point  from 
Goshen  after  a  wearisome  journey  of  nine 
weeks,  partly  by  water  down  the  Ohio,  then 
up  the  Miami  and  Whitewater,  and  across 
through  the  woods.  They  were  accompanied 
by  two  Delaware  converts,  one  named 
Thomas,  and  the  other  an  old  man  named 
Joshua,  who  had  formerly  lived  at  the  mis 
sion  at  Wyalusing  (Place  of  the  Aged  War 
rior — the  same  name  was  afterward  given 
to  a  stream  in  southern  Indiana). 

They  were  hospitably  received,  but  the 
Indians,  who  were  pagans,  pointed  out  a 
place  for  them  to  settle  some  twenty  miles 
farther  down  the  river.  The  truth  is  that 
the  pagans  regarded  the  Christian  Indians 
as  a  sort  of  inoffensive  idiots,  who  did  not 
have  sense  enough  to  protect  themselves— 
the  Moravians  being  non-combatants—rand 
who  might  be  murdered  by  whites,  as  their 
brethren  had  been  at  Salem  and  Gnadenhuet- 
ten  on  the  Muskingum,  if  they  did  not  have 


49 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

a  surrounding  cordon  of  Indians  of  more 
warlike  character. 

This  location  was  favorably  situated  for 
their  labors,  being  only  two  miles  east  of 
the  large  town  of  the  chief  known  to  the 
whites  as  Anderson.  His  Indian  name  was 
Kok-to'-wha-nund,  which  may  be  translated 
Making  a  Cracking  Noise,  i.  e.,  as  of  a  house 
or  a  tree  about  to  fall,  for  that  is  the  mean 
ing  of  Kok-to'wha,  and  the  ending  nund  in 
dicates  that  the  noise  is  caused  by  some  per 
son. 

The  whites  have  given  the  name  of  Ander 
son  to  the  place,  but  the  Indians  did  not  call 
it  by  the  chief's  name,  as  they  did  many 
other  places,  but  gave  it  the  special  name  of 
Wah'-pi-mins'-kink,  or  Chestnut  Tree  Place. 
Some  botanists  have  doubted  that  the  chest 
nut  tree  is  native  to  Indiana,  but  the  earliest 
surveyor's  notes  show  that  they  were  com 
mon  in  some  regions.  The  section  center 
one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  Anderson  was 
marked  by  "a  chestnut  thirty  inches  in  dia 
meter." 

Indeed,  the  location  was  about  the  only 
encouraging  feature  of  the  case,  for  these 
pagan  Delawares  had  an  ancient  religion  of 

50 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

their  own  to  which  they  were  much  at 
tached.  It  was  (and  is,  for  it  still  continues) 
founded  on  the  vision  of  a  boy  who  was  ill- 
treated  at  home  and  wandered  off  one  night 
heartsore  and  very  hungry,  until,  almost  ex 
hausted,  he  began  moaning  and  supplicating 
the  Great  Spirit.  As  he  cried  out  "O-oo" 
he  heard  twelve  voices  repeat  the  sound,  one 
after  another.  Then  he  fell  asleep  and  a 
manitou  appeared  to  him  as  a  man,  with  one 
side  of  his  face  painted  red  and  the  other 
black.  He  told  the  boy  all  about  the  spirit 
world,  and  that  the  troubles  of  his  people 
were  due  to  their  wickedness  and  their  fail 
ure  to  worship  the  manitous  for  their  good 
ness. 

In  answer  to  an  inquiry  about  the  twelve 
voices  he  said  these  were  the  voices  of  the 
manitous  ruling  in  the  twelve  spheres  of 
heaven,  through  which  one  must  pass  to 
reach  the  Great  Spirit;  and  all  prayers  are 
thus  passed  in  by  them,  from  one  to  another, 
until  the  twelfth  delivers  them  to  the  Great 
Spirit. 

He  gave  the  boy  full  instructions  for  the 
religious  rites  the  Indians  must  observe,  es 
pecially  the  annual  thanksgiving  feast,  and 

51 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

also  for  the  temples  or  council-houses  they 
must  erect  for  worship.  These  were  to  be 
long  and  large,  and  to  be  divided  into  twelve 
parts,  in  each  of  which  must  be  a  post  with  a 
face  carved  on  it,  and  painted  red  on  one 
side  and  black  on  the  other,  representing  the 
twelve  ruling  manitous.  In  the  center  there 
must  be  a  post  with  four  faces  carved  on  the 
four  sides,  representing  the  Great  Spirit  who 
sees  and  knows  all  things. 

To  these  houses  the  people  must  enter  by 
the  east  door  and  retire  in  the  same  way,  al 
ways  passing  to  the  right,  and  never  going 
between  the  center  post  and  the  east  door. 
After  entering,  the  Turtle  clan  or  Unami 
( People  Down  the  River ) ,  commonly  known 
among  themselves  by  their  totem  name,  Pa- 
ko-an-go  (The  Crawler),  were  to  be  seated 
on  the  south  side.  On  the  west  are  the  Tur 
key  clan,  or  Unalachtigo  (People  Near  the 
Ocean),  commonly  known  among  them 
selves  as  Chi-ke-la-ki  (from  chik-e-no,  a  tur 
key),  or  sometimes  by  their  other  name  of 
the  turkey,  Pullaeu  ( It  Does  Not  Chew — re 
ferring  to  the  bird's  manner  of  eating).  On 
the  north  are  the  Wolf  clan,  known  to  us  as 
Monseys  or  Munsees,  but  properly  Minsi  or 

52 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

Minthiu  (People  of  the  Stony  Country), 
whose  totemic  name  is  p'tuk-sit,  or  round 
foot,  because  they  did  not  make  a  picture  of 
a  wolf  for  their  totem,  but  only  of  its  foot. 

Of  these  houses  on  White  River  Lucken- 
bach  says :  "In  each  of  these  towns  there  was 
a  council-house,  about  forty  feet  in  length 
and  twenty  feet  in  breadth,  where  they  us 
ually  celebrated  their  sacrificial  feasts  and 
dances.  These  houses  were  built  of  split 
wood,  piled  up  betwixt  posts  set  in  the 
ground,  covered  with  a  roof  made  of  laths 
and  the  bark  of  trees,  and  having  an  en 
trance  at  either  end;  but  there  was  neither 
floor  nor  ceiling;  three  fireplaces  stood  in  a 
straight  line  from  end  to  end,  with  large  ket 
tles  suspended  over  them  in  which  a  mess 
of  Indian  corn  and  meat,  boiled  together, 
was  prepared  for  the  guests  to  eat,  after  the 
dance  was  over.  Platforms  one  foot  high 
and  five  feet  wide  were  raised  all  along  the 
sides  of  the  house,  which  were  covered  first 
with  bark  and  then  long  grass  on  top  of 
that,  to  serve  as  couches  for  the  guests  to 
sit  or  recline  upon  while  smoking  their  pipes 
and  witnessing  the  dancing  of  the  rest. 
These  dances  were  invariably  got  up  in  the 

S3 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

night,  and  sometimes  continued  for  weeks 
together.  The  whole  was  concluded  by  a 
sacrificial  feast,  for  which  the  men  had  to 
furnish  the  venison  and  bear's  meat,  and  the 
women  the  cornbread;  and  everything  had 
to  be  prepared  in  the  council-house  before  all 
feasted  together  amidst  the  observance  of 
certain  rites." 

And  the  superstitions  of  these  pagans 
were  very  real  to  them.  They  regarded 
dreams  and  visions  as  supernatural  visita 
tions  quite  as  fully  as  Pharaoh  did.  They 
believed  absolutely  and  fearfully  in  witches, 
which  is  not  very  surprising  when  one  con- 
siders.that  Blackstone  had  defended  the  Eng 
lish  laws  against  witchcraft  less  than  fifty 
years  earlier.  They  were  perversely  argu 
mentative,  conceding  that  the  whites  had 
acted  very  wickedly  in  crucifying  the  Savior 
when  he  came  to  them,  but  urging  that  they 
had  never  treated  the  manitous  thus,  and 
that  they  did  not  see  how  they  were  con 
cerned  in  the  offense  of  the  whites. 

But,  with  all  their  failings,  they  at  least 
preached  fairly  well,  for  Luckenbach  says: 
"On  such  occasions  the  chiefs  usually  ad 
dress  speeches  to  their  people  of  both  sexes, 

54 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

and  rigidly  enforce  abstinence  from  all 
gross  sins,  especially  drunkenness  (although 
they  themselves  are  very  far  from  practic 
ing  what  they  teach),  while  recommending 
them  to  practice  hospitality,  love  and  con 
cord,  as  things  that  are  well  pleasing  to  God. 
This  proves  that  even  savages  are  capable 
of  distinguishing  between  good  and  evil,  and 
are,  therefore,  possessed  of  a  conscience  that 
either  accuses  or  else  excuses  them,  and  that 
will  judge  them  at  the  last  day." 

Obviously  the  missionaries  had  a  hard 
task  before  them,  but  at  least  they  were 
promised  an  open  field.  Luckenbach  says 
that  soon  after  their  coming  they  "were  vis 
ited  and  welcomed  by  the  two  oldest  Dela 
ware  chiefs,  Packantschilas  and  Tetepach- 
sit,"  and,  although  both  were  pagans,  "both 
of  these  chiefs  assured  us  they  had  given 
their  people  permission  to  visit  us  and  to 
hear  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  they  would 
order  them  not  to  molest  us  in  any  way,  nor 
to  pass  through  our  place  when  they  were 
drunk."  These  were  gratifying  assurances, 
for  the  former,  known  to  the  whites  as  Buck- 
ongehelas,  was  the  head  war  chief  of  the  na 
tion,  and  Ta-ta-pach-sit,  sometimes  men- 

56 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

tioned  as  'The  Grand  Glaize  King/'  was 
the  head  chief  in  time  of  peace.  His  name 
is  given  in  an  old  Pennsylvania  treaty  as 
"Tatabaugsuy,  the  Twisting  Vine/'  but 
there  is  nothing  in  it  like  the  Delaware  words 
for  "twisting"  or  "vine."  Ta-ta  is  a  Dela 
ware  double  negative,  making  it  emphatic, 
and  the  verb  pachan  (poch-6n)  means  to  di 
vide,  separate,  sunder;  making  the  literal 
meaning,  "It  can  not  be  divided  or  pulled 
apart."  Such  a  name  would  not  be  applied 
to  any  fragile  vine,  and  the  one  woody  twist 
ing  vine  in  the  old  Delaware  country  was 
the  American  Woodbine,  of  which  this  is  pre 
sumably  the  specific  name. 

Encouraged  by  the  assurances  of  these 
chiefs,  the  missionaries  proceeded  with  the 
erection  of  a  permanent  dwelling.  They 
lived  in  hastily-constructed  bark  huts  dur 
ing  the  summer,  but  by  November  they  com 
pleted  a  substantial  log  cabin  sixteen  feet 
square,  which  gave  them  comfortable  shel 
ter  for  the  winter. 

The  work  of  conversion  did  not  proceed 
with  much  success,  and  it  was  not  long  un 
til  they  discovered  that  they  were  contending 
against  an  influence  even  more  adverse  than 

57 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  ancient  Delaware  religion.  It  was  a 
spirit  of  opposition  to  the  whites  in  all 
things,  that  arose  chiefly  from  the  land  ques 
tion — the  continual  demand  of  the  white  man 
for  more  land.  Only  half  a  dozen  years  had 
passed  since  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  when 
the  boundaries  between  American  and  In 
dian  were  "fixed  for  all  time,"  as  the  Indians 
understood,  but  immediately  after  the  treaty 
there  was  a  great  flood  of  immigration  to  the 
new  lands,  and  soon  there  was  talk  of  more 
land  being  needed. 

Some  of  the  Indians  promptly  opposed 
this,  and  among  them  none  was  more  promi 
nent  than  the  young  Shawnee  Tecumtha.  A 
born  orator,  with  eloquence  as  great  as  that 
of  any  man  his  race  has  produced,  and  ab 
solutely  fearless,  he  proclaimed  everywhere 
the  doctrine  that  the  Indians  were  one  peo 
ple,  that  the  land  was  their  common  inherit 
ance  and  that  no  tribe  could  give  any  part 
of  it  away  without  the  consent  of  all. 

This  doctrine  was  soon  widely  adopted, 
for  in  1802  General  Harrison  wrote  that  he 
did  not  believe  that  he  could  obtain  land  ces 
sions  without  a  general  assembly  of  the 
chiefs,  for :  "There  appears  to  be  an  agree- 

58 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

ment  amongst  them  that  no  proposition 
which  relates  to  their  lands  can  be  acceded 
to  without  the  consent  of  all  the  tribes,  and 
they  are  extremely  watchful  and  jealous  of 
each  other  lest  some  advantage  should  be 
obtained  in  which  they  do  not  all  partici 
pate." 

Nevertheless  he  proceeded  to  treat  with 
individual  tribes.  From  September,  1802,  to 
December,  1805,  he  negotiated  seven  treaties 
with  "chiefs  and  head  men,"  by  which  were 
ceded  about  46,000  square  miles  of  territory 
in  southern  Indiana  and  Illinois.  No  tribes 
were  represented  but  those  asserting  ancient 
proprietary  rights,  although  the  Wyandots 
and  Shawnees  had  been  assured  a  part  in  the 
Indian  lands  at  the  treaty  of  Greenville.  Te- 
cumtha  and  his  coadjutors  denounced  these 
treaties,  and  the  chiefs  who  made  them,  and 
factions  in  all  the  tribes  joined  with  them. 

At  some  time  prior  to  1805  a  number  of 
Shawnees,  including  Tecumtha  and  his 
brother  Law-le-was-i-kaw  (The  Loud 
Voice)  came  to  live  with  the  Delawares  on 
White  River,  and  it  was  here  that  Law-le- 
was-i-kaw  took  the  name  of  Tems-kwah-ta- 
wah  (He  Who  Keeps  the  Door  Open)  and 

59 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

assumed  the  role  of  a  prophet.  He  was  read 
ily  accepted  in  this  function,  and  under  his 
teaching  the  tribes  were  soon  stirred  to  the 
work  of  purification,  which  consisted  chiefly 
of  abandoning  the  clothing  and  costumes  of 
the  whites  and  driving  out  witchcraft.  It 
was  notable  that  those  accused  of  the  latter 
were  chiefs  who  had  signed  the  treaties  or 
persons  who  were  known  as  friendly  to  the 
whites.  The  Indians  were  taught  that  the 
Great  Spirit  had  made  them  a  different  race 
from  the  whites,  and  that  they  must  keep 
themselves  distinct.  The  tendency  of  the 
new  religion  \vas  to  create  hostility  to  the 
white  man  in  all  lines. 

In  the  spring  of  1806  the  situation  became 
so  unpleasant  that  the  missionaries  decided 
to  remove.  Poch-gont'-she-he'-los  had  died 
in  1804,  and  Ta-ta-pach-sit  was  in  disfavor 
on  account  of  friendship  to  the  whites.  They 
were  occasionally  visited  by  drunken  youths 
who  shot  and  carried  off  their  hogs,  and 
showed  hostility  in  other  ways.  Early  in 
March  Luckenbach  and  Joshua  made  a  trip 
to  the  Mississinewa  towns  to  look  for  a  more 
favorable  location. 

As  they  passed  through  Wah-pi-kah-me- 
60 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

kunk  they  found  the  Delawares  assembled 
in  large  numbers  holding  council  as  to  how 
they  should  rid  the  tribe  of  witches.  Follow 
ing  the  plan  of  Tecumtha,  the  young  men — 
the  warriors — had  taken  the  reins  of  govern 
ment  into  their  own  hands;  and,  following 
the  teaching  of  The  Prophet,  they  had  deter 
mined  to  remove  all  witches.  If  those  who 
were  accused  of  witchcraft  would  confess 
and  abandon  their  practices  they  would  be 
forgiven,  but  if  not  they  would  be  turned 
over  to  "Their  Grandfather,  the  Fire." 

Immediately  after  the  return  of  Lucken- 
bach  and  Joshua,  seven  Indians  painted 
black  appeared  at  the  cabin  of  the  mission 
aries  and  announced  that  they  had  come  to 
take  Joshua  before  the  tribunal.  Old  Ta-ta- 
pach-sit  had  been  arraigned  for  witchcraft 
and  had  confessed,  on  promise  of  forgive 
ness  if  he  would  surrender  his  witch  bag — 
the  sack  in  which  Indian  medicine  men  pro 
fess  to  carry  the  media  of  their  magic.  He 
had  declared  that  in  the  previous  winter  he 
had  given  his  witch  bag  to  Joshua,  who  must 
now  confront  him.  Joshua  went  with  them, 
calm  and  unterrified  in  his  consciousness  of 
innocence. 

61 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

The  statement  as  to  Ta-ta-pach-sit  was 
true.  The  old  chief  had  probably  given  way 
under  the  weakness  of  old  age  and  had  hope 
lessly  involved  himself  and  others.  It  was 
simple  enough,  though  weak,  to  admit  the 
practice  of  witchcraft,  of  which  he  was  en 
tirely  innocent;  but  when  it  came  to  surren 
dering  or  accounting  for  a  witch-bag  that  he 
never  possessed,  he  was  lost.  He  had  said 
it  was  hidden  at  various  places,  but  search 
did  not  reveal  it.  He  then  confessed  giving 
it  to  his  wife,  to  his  nephew  and  to  Joshua, 
but  these  all  denied  it  convincingly,  and  the 
old  chief  promptly  brought  forward  some 
new  story. 

The  old  Munsee  woman  who  had  been 
serving  as  judge  in  such  matters  declined  to 
decide  these  cases.  Aside  from  the  difficul 
ties  involved,  she  had  had  a  wonderful  vision 
in  which  she  had  devoured  a  light  that  ap 
peared  to  her  three  times,  and  she  construed 
this  to  be  a  divine  reflection  on  her  judicial 
standing.  It  was,  therefore,  decided  to  hold 
the  accused  until  The  Prophet,  who  was  ex 
pected  the  next  day,  should  come  and  decide 
as  to  their  guilt  in  person. 

On  the  next  day,  March  17,  the  mission- 
62 


[/I 

'Si 

O 
X 

O 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

aries  were  startled  by  a  party  of  black-paint 
ed  Indians  who  came  to  their  place  with  Ta- 
ta-pach-sit  in  custody.  Hastily  taking  a  fire 
brand  from  one  of  the  Indian  lodges,  they 
passed  on  to  a  tree,  under  which  the  old  man 
had  now  indicated  the  place  where  the  witch- 
bag  was  concealed.  They  dug  at  the  place 
he  pointed  out,  but  found  nothing.  With 
gathering  fury  they  built  a  fire  and  threat 
ened  him  with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  give 
up  his  poison. 

The  frenzied  dotard  pointed  out  one  place 
after  another  and  they  dug  in  vain.  It  was 
hopeless.  He  was  self-convicted.  His  own 
son  struck  him  down  with  his  tomahawk. 
They  stripped  him  and  cast  his  body  into  the 
flames.  After  finishing  their  work  they 
came  to  the  cabin  of  the  missionaries,  and 
the  son,  displaying  his  father's  belt  of  wam 
pum,  said:  "This  belonged  to  him  who  dis 
carded  my  mother  and  his  oldest  children 
and  took  him  a  young  wife." 

But  what  of  Joshua?  The  missionaries 
were  beginning  to  feel  alarmed  about  him, 
and  ventured  some  words  in  his  defense.  To 
this  the  ominous  reply  of  the  Indians  was 
that  they  ought  not  to  speak  in  his  behalf, 

64 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

because  he  was  a  bad  man  who  had  doubt 
less  brought  many  persons  to  death  by  his 
magic  powers.  When  the  Indians  had  gone 
their  fears  increased  as  they  discussed  the 
situation,  and  in  the  morning  Luckenbach 
started  to  Wah-pi-kah-me-kunk  to  do  what 
he  could  for  the  aid  or  comfort  of  their 
friend.  About  half  way  there  he  met  the 
chief  Kok-to-wha-nund,  who  informed  him 
that  Joshua  had  been  killed  at  Wah-pi-kah- 
me-kunk  on  the  preceding  day.  The  mis 
sionary  was  overcome  by  grief,  and  lament 
ed  that  they  had  slain  an  innocent  man ;  but 
the  chief  sternly  answered  that  he  deserved 
his  doom,  and  that  other  wicked  people  who 
made  way  with  their  fellow-men  by  poison 
or  magic  would  meet  the  same  fate. 

To  a  protest  against  the  barbarity  of  such 
executions,  he  replied:  "You  white  people 
likewise  try  your  criminals,  and  whenever 
you  find  them  guilty  you  hang  them  or  exe 
cute  them  in  some  other  way,  and  we  are 
now  doing  the  same  among  us.  Another  of 
our  chiefs,  Hackin-pom-ska,  is  now  under 
arrest  on  a  similar  charge,  but  his  fate  still 
remains  undecided." 

There  had  indeed  been  exciting  times  at 
65 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Wah-pi-kah-me'-kunk  on  that  St.  Patrick's 
day.  The  Prophet  had  returned  and  had  con 
fronted  Joshua  in  the  council-house.  Joshua 
protested  his  innocence.  Unable  to  furnish 
any  proof  against  him,  The  Prophet  declared 
that  while  it  was  true  that  he  did  not  have 
the  witch-bag  of  Ta-ta-pach-sit,  he  had 
magic  powers  of  his  own  by  which  he  was 
able  to  destroy  a  man's  life  when  he  wished 
to  offer  a  victim  to  his  god.  This  was  equiva 
lent  to  a  judgment  of  guilty.  The  Indians 
conducted  Joshua  to  a  large  fire  which  they 
had  built.  They  formed  a  ring  about  him 
and  demanded  that  he  confess  how  many 
men  he  had  destroyed  by  his  magic.  Joshua 
calmly  and  solemnly  avowed  his  complete  in 
nocence. 

There  was  a  momentary  halt.  An  Indian 
stepped  from  the  circle,  went  to  the  fire,  and 
lighted  the  tobacco  in  his  tomahawk-pipe.  As 
he  passed  behind  Joshua  he  suddenly  sank 
the  tomahawk  in  his  brain.  With  wild  yells 
the  others  then  sprang  forward  and  rained 
blows  on  the  senseless  body.  Then  they 
stripped  his  body  and  threw  it  in  the  flames, 
where  it  burned  to  ashes. 

There  remained  three  others  under  accus- 

66 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

ation.  The  nephew  of  Ta-ta-pach-sit  was 
a  Christian  Indian,  commonly  known  as  Billy 
Patterson,  who  had  lived  among  the  whites 
until  he  acquired  considerable  skill  as  a  gun 
smith.  He  was  a  strong  and  courageous 
man,  with  a  queer  mixture  of  religious  faith 
and  Indian  stoicism  and  he  received  The 
Prophet's  condemnation  with  composure. 
They  offered  him  pardon  if  he  would  confess, 
and  abandon  his  magic  practices,  but  he  an 
swered  with  scorn:  "You  have  intimidated 
one  poor  old  man,  but  you  can  not  frighten 
me;  go  on,  and  you  shall  see  how  a  Chris 
tian  and  a  warrior  Can  die."  He  was  at  once 
burned  at  the  stake.  Bible  in  hand,  pray 
ing,  chanting  hymns,  and  defying  all  the 
powers  of  evil  until  his  voice  was  stifled,  his 
brave  soul  passed  out  as  from  one  of  the 
martyrs  of  apostolic  times. 

The  failure  to  elicit  any  confession  or  evi 
dences  of  guilt  from  him  was  somewhat  dis 
quieting.  When  the  council  had  resumed  its 
session  and  was  considering  the  case  of  Ta- 
ta-pach-sit's  wife  her  brother  entered  the 
council-house,  went  forward,  took  her  by  the 
hand  and  led  her  out  of  the  house.  He  then 
returned  and  declared  in  a  loud  voice :  "The 

67 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

evil  spirit  has  come  among  us  and  we  are 
killing  each  other."  No  further  attempt  was 
made  to  try  the  woman,  and  the  case  of 
Hack-ink-pom'-ska  (He  Walks  on  the 
Ground)  was  taken  up. 

This  chief  was  of  different  stuff  from  the 
others.  He  did  not  wait  for  any  additional 
accusation.  Advancing  to  The  Prophet,  he 
denounced  him  as  a  liar  and  an  impostor,  and 
threatened  him  with  personal  vengeance  if 
he  made  any  charge  of  witchcraft  against 
him.  This  was  a  very  practical  test  of  di 
vine  protection,  from  the  Indian  point  of 
view,  to  which  The  Prophet  was  not  pre 
pared  to  submit,  and  after  some  discussion 
Hack-ink-pom-ska  was  remanded  to  custody 
to  await  further  proceedings,  but  without  be 
ing  deprived  of  his  standing  and  authority  as 
a  chief.  No  further  action  was  taken  against 
him. 

The  news  of  these  tragedies  was  slow  in 
reaching  Governor  Harrison  at  Vincennes — 
up  the  trail  to  Ft.  Wayne  by  runner,  and 
down  the  Wabash  by  boat — reaching  him  in 
April.  He  at  once  sent  a  strong  letter  to 
the  Delawares,  in  which  he  said:  "Who  is 
this  pretended  prophet  who  dares  to  speak 

68 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

in  the  name  of  the  Great  Creator  ?  Examine 
him.  Is  he  more  wise  or  more  virtuous  than 
you  are  yourselves,  that  he  should  be  selected 
to  convey  to  you  the  orders  of  your  God  ?  De 
mand  of  him  some  proofs  at  least  of  his  be 
ing  the  messenger  of  the  Deity.  If  God  has 
really  employed  him,  He  has  doubtless  au 
thorized  him  to  perform  some  miracles,  that 
he  may  be  known  and  received  as  a  prophet. 
If  he  is  really  a  prophet,  ask  of  him  to  cause 
the  sun  to  stand  still — the  moon  to  alter  its 
course — the  rivers  to  cease  to  flow — or  the 
dead  to  rise  from  their  graves.  If  he  does 
these  things,  you  may  then  believe  that  he 
has  been  sent  from  God."  This  reached  the 
Indians  after  they  had  ended  their  crusade 
against  witchcraft,  but  it  probably  served  to 
lessen  somewhat  the  influence  of  The 
Prophet,  for  in  the  succeeding  troubles  the 
Delawares  were  generally  loyal  to  the  Amer 
icans. 

And  the  missionaries  ?  After  learning  the 
situation  at  Wah-pi-kah-me-kunk,  Lucken- 
bach  decided  to  go  at  once  before  the  council, 
which  was  still  in  session,  and  ask  what  was 
the  sentiment  as  to  them.  He  entered  the 
council-house,  announced  that  he  had  heard 

69 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

rumors  that  the  Indians  meant  to  drive  the 
missionaries  away,  and  asked  them  to  ex 
press  their  minds  freely  concerning  their  fu 
ture  stay. 

The  head  men  replied  that  the  rumors  had 
not  originated  with  them,  but  possibly  with 
some  of  the  young  men ;  that  they  had  no 
especial  preference  in  the  matter,  and  had 
not,  in  fact,  called  for  any  white  teachers, 
but  had  merely  requested  that  some  of  their 
relatives  at  the  Muskingum  move  out  to 
them ;  of  these,  however,  not  the  families  ex 
pected — the  White  Eyes  and  the  Killbucks 
— but  only  a  few  others  had  come.  The  mis 
sionaries  were  free  to  come  or  go  as  they 
liked ;  no  obstacles  would  be  put  in  their  way. 
The  council  then  advised  him  to  consult 
Hack-ink-pom-ska,  and  this  chief  coincided 
with  the  council  in  the  view  that  their  serv 
ices  were  not  particularly  desirable  to  the 
Indians,  especially  in  view  of  the  surplus  of 
religion  furnished  by  The  Prophet. 

On  consultation  with  Brother  and  Sister 
Kluge  it  was  decided  to  ask  the  authorities 
at  Bethlehem  permission  to  leave,  although 
this  involved  a  wait  of  five  or  six  months. 
A  messenger  was  sent  and  they  waited 

70 


•       THE  DEATH  OF  THE  WITCHES 

through  the  summer,  frequently  annoyed  by 
drunken  and  quarrelsome  Indians,  until  at 
last  the  permission  for  their  return  came.  On 
September  16,  with  their  little  belongings, 
they  left  the  White  River  mission  and  turned 
back  to  their  Pennsylvania  homes. 

Their  cabin  remained  standing  for  a  num 
ber  of  years,  but  even  that  did  not  preserve 
their  memory.  A  few  years  later,  when  the 
white  settlers  came  and  found  the  Indian 
town  known  as  Little  Munsee  sprung  up 
about  the  place,  it  was  assumed  that  the 
cabin  must  have  been  built  by  the  Indians  as 
a  fort,  because  it  was  so  much  more  substan 
tial  than  ordinary  Indian  structures,  and  so 
the  tradition  passed  down. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT. 

No  Indian's  name  is  more  inseparably 
linked  to  the  history  of  Indiana  than  that  of 
"Tecumseh,"  and  none  is  more  familiar  to 
American  readers,  but  it  is  remarkable  how 
little  is  definitely  known  about  this  celebrat 
ed  man. 

As  to  his  death,  there  are  three  conflicting 
accounts,  each  verified  by  the  statements  of 
alleged  eye-witnesses.  As  to  his  birth,  Mc- 
Kenney  and  Hall  give  a  romantic  story  of 
his  descent  from  the  daughter  of  an  English 
Governor  of  Georgia  or  South  Carolina,  who 
took  a  fancy  to  marry  a  Creek  warrior;  but 
the  historians  of  those  States  do  not  men 
tion  this  unusual  event,  and  Benjamin  Drake, 
from  whom  McKenney  and  Hall  state  they 
had  their  information,  says  that  this  story 
was  concocted  by  the  Prophet  to  give  impor 
tance  to  his  family. 

Drake  probably  is  right  in  his  statement 
72 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

that  Tecumtha  was  born  at  the  old  Shawnee 
town  of  Piqua,  on  Mad  River,  Ohio;  that  his 
father  was  Puck-e-shin'-wau  (something 
that  drops),  a  Shawnee  of  the  Kiscopoke 
clan,  and  that  his  mother  was  Me-tho-a-tas'- 
ke,  Shawnee  of  the  Turtle  totem.  Her  name 
signifies  a  turtle  laying  eggs  in  the  sand. 

But  Drake  says  the  name  is  properly  "Te 
cumtha,"  and  that  it  means  "a  shooting  star." 
Other  authorities  say  it  means  "a  comet,"  "a 
panther  leaping  on  its  prey,"  and  "an  ob 
stacle  in  the  path."  Frank  A.  Thackery,  su 
perintendent  and  agent  at  Shawnee,  Okla., 
writes  to  me:  "The  proper  pronunciation  of 
this  name  is  Te-cum-tha,  with  the  accent 
sometimes  on  the  first  syllable  and  some 
times  on  the  last,  depending  on  the  way  in 
which  the  word  is  used.  The  meaning  of 
the  word  in  the  Shawnee  language  is  'going 
crossways/  and  it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  a 
person  crossing  your  path  for  the  purpose  of 
disputing  your  passage." 

Other  Indian  authorities  give  it  as  "cross 
ing  over,"  "going  across,"  "flying  over,"  any 
of  which  explains  the  origin  of  the  common 
ly  given  meanings.  Gatschet  conjectured 
that  these  meanings  might  be  references  to 

73 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  fact  that  Tecumtha  belonged  to  the  Man- 
e-tti'-wi-mis-si-pis'-si  or  Spirit  Panther  to 
tem.  Figuratively  this  totem  stands  for  a 
meteor  or  a  comet. 

There  is  little  truth  in  the  common  ideas 
of  the  cause  of  Tecumtha's  hostility.  He  was 
a  warrior,  but  he  was  not  like  the  defiant 
Seminole  who  is  supposed  to  have  said : 
"I  battle  for  the  love  I  have 
To  see  the  white  man  fall." 

Tecumtha  was  also  a  statesman,  and  his 
chief  end  in  life  was  to  prevent  a  wrong  to 
his  people.  The  cause  of  this  originated  in 
the  treaty  of  Greenville.  At  that  time  Gen 
eral  Wayne  forced  the  assembled  tribes  to 
accept  a  boundary  line  which  gave  most  of 
Ohio  to  the  whites  and  threw  the  Ohio  tribes 
back  into  Indiana.  The  Ohio  Indians — Wy- 
andots,  Ottawas,  Six  Nations  of  Sandusky, 
Delawares  and  Shawnees — unanimously 
asked  General  Wayne  to  divide  the  land  be 
tween  the  several  tribes.  They  said,  in  a 
formal  address,  as  shown  by  our  own  official 
records,  "We  wish  to  inform  you  of  the  im 
propriety  of  not  fixing  the  bounds  of  every 
nation's  rights;  for,  the  manner  it  now  lies 
in,  would  bring  on  disputes  forever  between 

74 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

the  different  tribes  of  Indians,  and  we  wish 
to  be  by  ourselves,  that  we  may  be  acquaint 
ed  how  far  we  might  extend  our  claims,  that 
no  one  may  intrude  on  us,  nor  we  upon 
them." 

But  General  Wayne  declined  to  do  this, 
and  with  remarkable  disregard  of  the  point 
of  the  request  said:  "You  Indians  best  know 
your  respective  boundaries/'  and  urged 
them :  "Let  no  nation  or  nations  invade,  mo 
lest  or  disturb  any  other  nation  or  nations 
in  the  hunting  grounds  they  have  heretofore 
been  accustomed  to  live  and  hunt  upon,  with 
in  the  boundary  which  shall  now  be  agreed 


on." 


This  decision  they  were  forced  to  accept, 
and  therefore  the  Ohio  Indians  were  thrown 
back  among  the  more  Western  tribes  with 
out  having  any  lands  set  off  for  them.  They 
mixed  largely  with  the  Indian  tribes,  many 
of  the  Delawares  and  Shawnees  making 
their  homes  in  the  hitherto  unoccupied  parts 
of  southern  Indiana,  but  they  advanced  the 
theory  that  under  the  new  arrangement  the 
land  belonged  to  all  the  tribes  in  common, 
and  this  was  generally  accepted. 

In  1802  Governor  Harrison  wrote:  "There 

75 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

appears  to  be  an  agreement  amongst  them 
that  no  proposition  which  relates  to  their 
lands  can  be  acceded  to  without  the  consent 
of  all  the  tribes." 

But  the  only  treaty  in  which  he  undertook 
to  get  this  general  consent  was  the  one  of 
June  7,  1803,  and  its  cessions  of  land  were 
very  slight — four  miles  square  at  the  salt 
springs  in  southeastern  Illinois,  and  four 
tracts  each  one  mile  square  on  the  roads  from 
Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia  and  Clarksville,  for 
the  location  of  taverns. 

In  return  for  this  the  United  States  was 
to  distribute  150  bushels  of  salt  annually 
among  all  the  tribes,  and  to  give  free  ferriage 
to  all  of  the  Indians  at  the  ferries  that  might 
be  established  on  these  roads.  This  treaty 
was  signed  by  three  Shawnees,  but  in  no 
other  of  Harrison's  treaties  did  any  Shawnee 
join,  or  any  Wyandot,  or  any  Ohio  Dela 
ware,  and  apparently  they  were  not  consult 
ed  at  all,  although  by  1806  he  had  negotiated 
five  other  treaties  for  the  cession  of  about 
46,000  square  miles  of  land  in  Illinois  and 
southern  Indiana. 

These  treaties  were  made  with  the  "chiefs 
and  head  warriors"  of  various  tribes,  and 

76 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

four  of  them  had  only  five  Indian  signers 
each.  It  was  these  treaties  that  raised  the 
wrath  of  Tecumtha  and  his  sympathizers, 
for  not  only  did  none  of  the  Ohio  Indians 
consent  to  them,  but  none  received  any  part 
of  the  compensation,  although  the  Indiana 
and  Illinois  Indians  had  shared  equally  in 
the  compensation  at  the  treaty  of  Green 
ville.  It  was  clear  that  the  Shawnees  and 
other  Ohio  Indians  were  being  shut  out  en 
tirely;  and  when  the  treaties  of  1809  were 
made,  by  which  3,000,000  acres  were  added 
to  the  cessions,  Tecumtha  became  defiant  and 
said  that  these  treaties  should  not  be  carried 
into  effect. 

It  was  then  that  Tecumtha  came  to  Vin- 
cennes  and  had  his  dramatic  interview  with 
General  Harrison.  He  came  to  Vincennes 
on  August  12,  1810,  with  a  retinue  of  75 
warriors,  and  for  several  days  there  were 
interviews  and  councils  between  him  and 
Governor  Harrison.  On  the  20th  an  open- 
air  council  was  in  progress  before  the  Gov 
ernor's  residence.  Tecumtha  made  a  long 
speech  in  which  he  urged  that  the  treaties 
had  been  made  by  but  few  people,  and  that 
they  had  no  right  to  dispose  of  the  common 

77 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

heritage.  He  threatened  vengeance  on  the 
chiefs  who  had  signed  the  treaties  if  they 
were  not  rescinded,  and  he  charged  Harrison 
with  having  incited  the  trouble.  He  said : 

"It  is  you  that  are  pushing  them  on  to  do 
mischief.  You  endeavor  to  make  distinc 
tions.  You  wish  to  prevent  the  Indians  to 
do  as  we  wish  them,  to  unite  and  let  them 
consider  their  lands  as  the  common  property 
of  the  whole.  You  take  tribes  aside  and  ad 
vise  them  not  to  come  into  this  measure; 
and  until  our  design  is  accomplished  we  do 
not  wish  to  accept  your  invitation  to  go  and 
see  the  President.  The  reason  I  tell  you  this 
is,  you  want,  by  your  distinctions  of  Indian 
tribes,  in  allotting  to  each  a  particular  tract 
of  land,  to  make  them  to  war  with  each  other. 
You  never  see  an  Indian  come  and  endeavor 
to  make  the  white  people  do  so.  You  are 
continually  driving  the  red  people;  when,  at 
last,  you  will  drive  them  into  the  great  lake, 
where  they  can't  either  stand  or  work."  He 
declared  that  the  warriors  represented  the 
will  of  the  Indians,  and  that  unless  the 
treaties  were  rescinded  he  would  call  a  great 
council  of  the  tribes  to  deal  with  the  treaty 
chiefs. 

78 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

At  the  close  of  his  speech  Governor  Har 
rison  began  to  reply.  He  was  dwelling  on 
the  uniform  justice  which  the  United  States 
had  shown  in  its  dealings  with  the  Indians, 
when  Tecumtha  sprang  to  his  feet  and  de 
nounced  the  statement  as  untrue,  and 
charged  that  Harrison  and  the  United 
States  had  cheated  and  imposed  on  the  In 
dians.  With  defiant  gesticulation  he  said  to 
the  interpreter,  Barron,  "Tell  him  he  lies." 
Barren  hesitated  and  sought  to  soften  the 
expression,  but  Tecumtha  reiterated,  "No, 
no.  Tell  him  he  lies."  But  the  stir  inter 
rupted  the  proceedings.  Several  of  the  war 
riors  arose  and  stood  in  a  threatening  at 
titude.  General  Gibson,  Secretary  of  the 
Territory,  who  understood  the  Shawnee  lan 
guage,  directed  Lieutenant  Jennings  to  ad 
vance  with  the  guard  of  twelve  men,  who 
had  stood  at  a  little  distance.  As  soon  as 
order  was  restored  Tecumtha's  words  were 
translated,  and  Governor  Harrison  indig 
nantly  reproached  him  for  his  conduct,  and 
ordered  him  to  return  to  his  camp,  saying 
that  the  council  fire  was  extinguished  and 
he  would  hold  no  further  communication 


7Q 


TECUMTHA. 

(From  the  only  known  portrait — a  pencil  sketch  by  Pierre 
le  Drou,  a  youn£  trader  at  Vincennes.  Probably  not  an 
exact  likeness.  Represents  Tecumtha  in  his  British  uni 
form.) 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

with  him.     Abashed  by  this  firm  stand,  the 
Indians  sullenly  withdrew. 

With  cooling  time,  Tecumtha  realized  that 
he  had  made  a  diplomatic  blunder.  In  the 
morning  Barren  visited  him  in  his  camp,  and 
found  him  very  desirous  of  a  further  inter 
view  and  an  amicable  settlement.  Governor 
Harrison  consented  to  the  interview  on  con 
dition  that  Tecumtha  would  apologize  for 
his  insult,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  council 
was  resumed.  With  perfect  dignity,  but  in 
a  respectful  manner,  Tecumtha  disclaimed 
any  intention  to  offer  insult,  and  explained 
that  he  had  perhaps  been  misinformed  as  to 
the  sentiments  of  the  white  people,  who,  he 
had  been  told,  were  divided  in  their  opinion 
as  to  the  treaties;  but  he  said  he  knew  they 
already  had  more  land  than  they  could  use, 
"as  he  had  sent  some  of  his  men  to  recon- 
noiter  the  settlements,  and  had  found  that  the 
lands  towards  the  Ohio  were  not  settled  at 
all."  Governor  Harrison  then  asked  him  to 
state  explicitly  whether  the  Kickapoos 
would  accept  their  annuities  under  the  late 
treaty,  and  whether  the  surveyors  who  might 
be  sent  to  run  the  boundary  line,  under  the 
treaty  of  1809,  would  be  interfered  with.  To 

81 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

this  Tecumtha  responded  that  he  was  author 
ized  to  say  that  the  Kickapoos  would  not  ac 
cept  their  annuities;  and,  as  to  the  bound 
aries,  "I  want  the  present  boundary  line  to 
continue.  Should  you  cross  it,  I  assure  you 
it  will  be  productive  of  bad  consequences." 
The  council  was  then  brought  to  a  close. 

On  the  next  day,  Governor  Harrison,  ac 
companied  only  by  Barron,  visited  Tecum- 
tha's  camp,  where  he  was  politely  received, 
and  another  long  interview  was  held,  but 
without  different  result.  Tecumtha  restated 
his  position,  and  when  Governor  Harrison 
assured  him  that  his  claims  would  never  be 
admitted  by  the  President,  he  replied: 

"Well,  as  the  great  chief  is  to  determine 
the  matter,  I  hope  the  Great  Spirit  will  put 
sense  enough  into  his  head  to  induce  him  to 
direct  you  to  give  up  the  land.  It  is  true,  he 
is  so  far  off  he  will  not  be  injured  by  the 
war.  He  may  sit  still  in  his 'town,  and  drink 
his  wine,  while  you  and  I  will  have  to  fight 
it  out." 

This  closed  the  conferences  of  1810,  but, 
in  June,  1811,  Governor  Harrison  sent  a 
message  to  Tecumtha  and  The  Prophet, 
warning  them  of  the  consequences  of  hos- 

82 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

tilities.  To  this  Tecumtha  replied,  protest 
ing  that  no  hostilities  were  intended,  and 
saying  that  he  would  come  to  Vincennes  in 
hope  of  a  peaceable  adjustment  of  all  differ 
ences.  In  July  the  Indians  began  to  assem 
ble  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Vincennes, 
and  when  Tecumtha  joined  them  they  num 
bered  about  300,  of  whom  one-tenth  were 
women  and  children.  This  gathering  caused 
apprehension,  and  Governor  Harrison  sent 
a  message  disapproving  it.  Tecumtha  re 
plied  that  he  had  only  twenty-four  men  in 
his  party,  and  "the  rest  had  come  of  their 
own  accord;  but  that  everything  should  be 
settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Governor, 
on  his  arrival  at  Vincennes."  To  be  pre 
pared  for  any  emergency,  the  militia  of  the 
county,  amounting  to  750  men,  were  called 
out,  and  guards  were  stationed  about  the 
town. 

It  was  charged,  and  generally  believed  by 
the  whites,  that  Tecumtha  contemplated 
treachery.  At  this  time  about  the  only 
friends  the  Indians  had  in  southern  Indiana 
were  the  Shakers,  who  had  a  settlement  some 
fifteen  miles  north  of  Vincennes.  They  had 
a  mission  to  the  Shawnees  in  1807,  and  ap- 

83 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

parently  were  on  much  the  same  friendly 
terms  with  the  Indians  as  the  Quakers  have 
usually  been.  The  Indians  who  accompanied 
Tecumtha  assembled  near  their  settlement. 
One  of  the  leading  Shakers  made  this  rec 
ord: 

"These  were  trying  times  with  us.  We 
had  use  for  all  the  wisdom  and  patience  we 
possessed.  These  hungry  creatures  were 
about  us  nearly  three  weeks,  singing  and 
dancing  to  the  Great  Spirit.  Some  of  the 
time  there  were  upward  of  two  hundred,  all 
peaceable,  showed  no  abuse  to  any  one,  would 
drink  no  whisky,  and  never  to  our  knowledge 
took  to  the  value  of  one  cucumber  without 
leave.  Nor  could  we  discover  in  them  the 
least  hostile  symptoms,  still  declaring  their 
innocence,  grieved  that  the  people  would  not 
believe  them — saying  to  the  people:  Took, 
see  our  squaws  and  children.  We  do  not  go 
to  war  so.  We  only  come  here  because  the 
Governor  sent  for  us/  But  notwithstanding 
all  this  the  people  moved  into  forts  and  into 
town,  bag  and  baggage,  all  around  us.  Oh, 
how  often  did  my  soul  cry  out  within  me, 
Lord,  God !  What  can  ail  this  people  ?  Surely 
the  prophecy  of  Esdras  is  fulfilled  upon  them. 

84 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

'Wit  has  hid  itself  from  them,  and  under 
standing  withdrawn  itself  into  its  secret 
chamber/  " 

But  whether  treachery  was  meditated  or 
not,  Tecumtha  was  resolute  in  his  opposition 
to  the  treaties.  It  was  a  hopeless  situation. 
On  the  one  side  Tecumtha  contended  for  the 
same  principle  that  we  maintained  in  the  civil 
war — that  the  Indian  lands  belonged  to  all 
the  Indians  in  common  and  that  no  one  tribe 
could  dispose  of  any  part  of  it  without  the 
consent  of  all  the  tribes.  On  the  other  hand, 
Governor  Harrison  held,  as  he  stated  to  the 
next  Legislature : 

"Are  then  the  extinguishments  of  native 
title,  which  are  at  once  so  beneficial  to  the 
Indian,  the  Territory  and  the  United  States, 
to  be  suspended  on  the  account  of  the  in 
trigues  of  a  few  individuals?  Is  one  of  the 
fairest  portions  of  the  globe  to  remain  in  a 
state  of  nature,  the  haunt  of  a  few  wretched 
savages,  when  it  seems  destined  by  the 
Creator  to  give  support  to  a  large  population, 
and  to  be  the  seat  of  civilization,  of  science, 
and  of  true  religion  ?" 

But  the  existence  of  these  two  theories  on 
a  frontier,  even  without  formal  war,  meant 

85 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

trouble.  There  were  scarcely  any  Indian  hos 
tilities  in  the  Northwest  from  the  treaty  of 
Greenville  until  1803,  but  in  the  decade  fol 
lowing  southern  Indiana  was  the  scene  of 
many  a  bloody  tragedy.  Prowling  bands  of 
warriors  fell  on  defenseless  settlers,  killing 
men  and  carrying  women  and  children  cap 
tive.  And  many  of  the  whites  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  kill  an  Indian  at  any  favorable  oppor 
tunity,  without  regard  to  his  hostile  or  peace 
able  attitude. 

The  danger  was  so  great  and  so  constant 
that  the  territorial  authorities  caused  block 
houses  to  be  built  at  various  points,  and 
maintained  companies  of  rangers,  who  pa 
trolled  the  established  lines  of  travel  to  pro 
tect  immigrants.  It  was  Indiana's  notable 
period  of  border  warfare,  and  when  it  ended 
the  white  man's  theory  was  triumphant — es 
tablished  by  blood  and  steel. 

Tecumtha  did  not  live  to  see  the  end,  but 
he  never  gave  up  his  cherished  hope.  It  was 
not  without  reason  that  he  charged  Govern 
or  Harrison  with  trying  to  make  war  be 
tween  the  Indian  tribes,  for  the  Governor's 
policy  alienated  the  Indiana  tribes  from  Te 
cumtha.  They  received  the  annuities  and 

86 


INDIANA  IN  1611. 


ff 
Dearbor 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

other  compensation  for  the  lands,  whose  sale 
he  opposed,  and  there  were  very  few  of  them 
in  arms  against  the  Americans,  either  at 
Tippecanoe  or  in  the  war  of  1812. 

Realizing  that  his  forces  were  not  suffi 
cient  for  successful  war,  disappointed  re 
peatedly  in  his  efforts  to  secure  Indian  al 
lies,  he  hailed  with  joy  the  advent  of  war 
with  the  British  and  enrolled  with  them.  One 
can  easily  imagine  the  chagrin  with  which 
he  saw  these  allies  being  driven  back  by  the 
Americans,  and  can  understand  the  bitter 
ness  of  his  speech  to  General  Proctor  at  Mai 
den,  when  the  latter  was  preparing  to  re 
treat.  His  life-long  dream  came  back  as  he 
begged  Proctor  to  turn  the  arms  and  ammu 
nition  over  to  the  Indians  and  let  them  stay 
and  fight. 

"Listen,"  said  Tecumtha,  "when  war  was 
declared  our  Father  stood  up  and  gave  us 
the  tomahawk,  and  told  us  that  he  was  then 
ready  to  fight  and  strike  the  Americans— 
that  he  wanted  our  assistance  and  that  we 
would  certainly  get  our  land  back  that  the 
Americans  had  taken  from  us.  *  *  *  Father, 
you  have  the  arms  and  ammunition  which 
our  Great  Father  sent  for  his  red  children. 


WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT 

If  you  have  an  idea  of  going  away,  give  them 
to  us.  You  may  go,  and  welcome.  Our  lives 
are  in  the  hands  of  the  Great  Spirit.  We  are 
determined  to  defend  our  land,  and  if  it  be 
His  will,  we  wish  to  leave  our  bones  upon  it." 

And  undoubtedly  he  went  into  the  battle 
of  the  Thames  with  that  feeling — with  the 
conviction  that  the  supreme  hour  had  come 
when  all  must  be  won  or  lost,  and  gave  his 
life  as  the  crowning  sacrifice  of  his  life's  ef 
fort. 

And  yet  this  concession  of  Tecumtha's 
honesty  of  purpose  is  no  reflection  on  Gov 
ernor  Harrison,  but  only  a  presentation  of 
the  different  point  of  view.  Harrison  al 
ways  warmly  resented  every  charge  of  un 
fairness  on  his  part.  At  the  treaty  of  1814, 
he  was  especially  urgent  that  the  Indians 
should  point  out  any  matter  in  which  he  had 
ever  deceived  them  or  done  them  injustice. 

At  that  time  Harrison  said  as  to  Tecum 
tha's  position: 

"After  the  treaty  was  made  the  Prophet 
and  his  brother,  who  had  no  right  to  par 
ticipate  in  it,  began  to  propagate  the  princi 
ple  that  the  whole  of  the  lands  on  this  conti 
nent  were  the  common  property  of  all  the 

89 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

tribes  and  that  no  sale  could  take  place  or 
would  be  valid  unless  all  the  tribes  were  par 
ties  to  it.  This  idea  is  so  absurd  and  so 
new,  too,  that  it  could  never  be  admitted  by 
the  Seventeen  Fires,  either  on  their  own  ac 
count  or  on  that  of  the  tribes  who  live  near 
to  them  and  whose  rights  they  have  guar 
anteed  ;  and  you  all  know,  for  you  were  pres 
ent  at  the  discussion  between  Tecumseh  and 
myself,  on  the  subject  of  those  lands,  that 
this  was  the  only  claim  he  was  able  or  ever 
attempted  to  set  up." 

Very  true.  Tecumtha  offered  a  claim  that 
was  of  no  value  under  our  laws,  but  under 
this  construction  the  Ohio  Indians  were  the 
only  ones  who  ever  surrendered  their  old 
homes  to  our  Government  without  receiving 
some  territory  that  they  might  call  their  own, 
elsewhere.  Under  it  they  were  made  abso 
lutely  homeless,  except  as  they  might  be  tol 
erated  by  the  other  tribes. 

It  is  not  strange  that  they  did  not  take  this 
view,  nor  that  they  protested  against  it. 
Looking  back  now,  it  is  not  hard  to  do  them 
this  justice.  Indeed,  when  contemplating 
such  a  life  as  Tecumtha's,  one  may  easily 


90 


.WHY  TECUMTHA  FOUGHT. 

sympathize  with  the  sentiment  of  Wendell 
Phillips  as  to  the  Indian : 

"Neither  Greece,  nor  Germany,  nor  the 
French,  nor  the  Scotch,  can  show  a  prouder 
record.  And  instead  of  searing  it  over  with 
infamy  and  illustrated  epithets,  the  future 
will  recognize  it  as  a  glorious  record  of  a 
race  that  never  melted  out  and  never  died 
away,  but  stood  up  manfully,  man  by  man, 
foot  by  foot,  and  fought  it  out  for  the  land 
God  gave  him  against  the  world,  which 
seemed  to  be  poured  out  over  him.  I  love 
the  Indian,  because  there  is  something  in  the 
soil  and  climate  that  made  him  that  is  fated, 
in  the  thousand  years  that  are  coming,  to 
mold  us." 

There  are  few  Americans  who  have  not 
accorded  admiration  to  Tecumtha's  manly 
character,  but  perhaps  none  has  paid  higher 
tribute  than  Charles  A.  Jones,  the  Cincinnati 
poet,  in  whose  poem  to  "Tecumseh,  the  Last 
King  of  the  Ohio/'  occur  these  stanzas : 

Art  thou  a  patriot? — so  was  he — 

His     breast     was     Freedom's     holiest 
shrine ; 

And  as  thou  bendest  there  thy  knee, 
His  spirit  will  unite  with  thine; 
91 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

All  that  a  man  can  give,  he  gave — 
His  life — the  country  of  his  sires 

From  the  oppressor's  grasp  to  save — 
In    vain — quenched    are    his     nation's 
fires. 

Oh,  softly  fall  the  summer  dew, 

The  tears  of  Heaven  upon  his  sod, 
For  he  in  life  and  death  was  true, 

Both  to  his  country  and  his  God ; 
For,  oh,  if  God  to  man  has  given, 

From  his  bright  home  beyond  the  skies 
One  feeling  that's  akin  to  Heaven, 

'Tis  his  who  for  his  country  dies. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET. 

Notwithstanding  the  eloquence,  magnet 
ism  and  high  repute  of  Tecumtha  among 
the  Indians,  there  is  little  room  for  question 
that  the  chief  element  of  strength  in  his 
confederacy  was  the  influence  of  his  brother, 
the  Prophet.  The  original  name  of  this  man 
was  the  Loud  Voice — commonly  written 
Law-le-was-i-kaw,  or  Ol-la-wa-chi-ca,  but 
more  properly  La-lu-e-tsee-ka.  When  he  as 
sumed  the  role  of  prophet,  at  our  White  Riv 
er  Delaware  towns,  in  1805,  he  took  the  name 
of  Tems-kwah'-ta-wah,  or  He  Who  Keeps 
the  Door  Open.  American  writers  have  com 
monly  denounced  him  as  an  impostor,  and  a 
conscious  humbug,  but  there  is  in  fact  no 
more  reason  for  questioning  his  sincerity, 
though  he  may  at  times  have  resorted  to 
trickery  to  enhance  his  reputation,  than  there 
is  for  questioning  the  sincerity  of  Mahomet 
or  Joan  of  Arc  or  our  own  Mrs.  Eddy.  Al- 

93 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

most  all  Indians  believe  in  the  supernatural 
character  of  visions  and  dreams  and  their 
common  teaching  is  that  if  a  person  will  pur 
ify  himself  and  fast  and  pray  for  a  week  or 
so,  the  Manitous  will  reveal  themselves  to 
him.  A  week's  fasting  naturally  produces 
visions,  which  are  accepted  as  spiritual  visi 
tations  in  answer  to  prayer. 

Among  the  white  contemporaries  of  the 
Prophet,  almost  the  only  ones  who  credited 
his  sincerity  were  the  Shakers,  who  are 
among  the  few  sects  who  accept  literally 
the  prophecy  that  "your  old  men  shall  see 
visions  and  your  young  men  shall  dream 
dreams."  They  sent  three  missionaries  to 
the  Shawnees  in  1807,  and  one  of  these,  Rich 
ard  McNemar,  records  the  Prophet's  own 
story  of  his  divine  calling  as  follows : 

"He  [the  Prophet]  had  formerly  lived  on 
White  River ;  had  been  a  doctor  and  a  very 
wicked  man.  About  two  years  ago,  while 
attending  on  sick  people  at  Attawa,  in  a 
time  of  general  sickness,  he  was  struck  with 
a  deep  and  awful  sense  of  his  sins;  cried 
mightily  to  the  Good  Spirit  to  show  him 
some  way  of  escape,  and  in  his  great  distress 
fell  into  a  vision,  in  which  he  appeared  to  be 

94 


TEMS-KWAH-TA-WAH  (HE  WHO  KEEPS  THE  DOOR  OPEN) 
THE  SHAWNEE  PROPHET. 

(From  Portrait  formerly  in  National  Gallerv.) 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

traveling  along  a  road,  and  came  to  where 
it  forked.  The  right-hand  way,  he  was  in 
formed,  led  to  happiness,  and  the  left  to 
misery. 

"This  fork  in  the  road,  he  was  told,  repre 
sented  that  stage  of  life  in  which  people 
were  convicted  of  sin;  and  those  who  took 
the  right-hand  way  quit  everything  that  was 
wicked  and  became  good.  But  the  left-hand 
road  was  for  such  as  would  go  on  and  be 
bad,  after  they  were  shown  the  right  way. 
They  all  move  slow  till  they  come  here,  but 
when  they  pass  the  fork  to  the  left  then  they 
go  swift.  On  the  left-hand  way  he  saw 
three  houses — from  the  first  and  second 
were  pathways  that  led  into  the  right-hand 
road,  but  no  way  leading  from  the  third. 
This,  said  he,  is  eternity.  He  saw  vast  crowds 
going  swift  along  the  left-hand  road,  and 
great  multitudes  in  each  of  the  houses,  un 
der  different  degrees  of  judgment  and  mis 
ery.  He  mentioned  particularly  the  punish 
ment  of  the  drunkard.  One  presented  him 
a  cup  of  liquor  resembling  melted  lead ;  if  he 
refused  to  drink  it  he  would  urge  him,  say 
ing:  'Come,  drink — you  used  to  love  whisky.' 
And  upon  drinking  it  his  bowels  were  seized 

95 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

with  an  exquisite  burning.  This  draught  he 
had  often  to  repeat.  At  the  last  house  their 
torment  appeared  inexpressible ;  under  which 
he  heard  them  scream,  cry  pitiful  and  roar 
like  the  falls  of  a  river. 

"He  was  afterward  taken  along  the  right- 
hand  way,  which  was  all  interspersed  with 
flowers  of  delicious  smell,  and  showed  a 
house  at  the  end  of  it,  where  was  everything 
beautiful,  sweet  and  pleasant;  and  still  went 
on  learning  more  and  more;  but  in  his  first 
vision  he  saw  nothing  but  the  state  of  the 
wicked,  from  which  the  Great  Spirit  told  him 
to  go  and  warn  his  people  of  their  danger, 
and  call  upon  them  to  put  away  their  sins 
and  be  good.  Whereupon  he  began  to  speak 
to  them  in  great  distress,  and  would  weep 
and  tremble  while  addressing  them.  Some 
believed,  were  greatly  alarmed,  began  to  con 
fess  their  sins,  forsake  them  and  set  out  to 
be  good.  This  spread  the  alarm  and  brought 
many  others  from  different  tribes  to  see  and 
hear,  who  were  affected  in  like  manner.  But 
some  of  the  chiefs,  who  were  very  wicked, 
would  not  believe  and  tried  to  keep  the  peo 
ple  from  believing  and  encouraged  them  on 
in  their  former  wicked  ways.  Whereupon 

96 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

the  Great  Spirit  told  him  to  separate  from 
these  wicked  chiefs  and  their  people,  and 
showed  him  particularly  where  to  come,  to 
ward  the  big  ford  where  the  peace  was  con 
cluded  with  the  Americans  [i.  e.,  Greenville, 
O.  ] ,  and  there  make  provision  to  receive  and 
instruct  all  from  the  different  tribes  that 
were  willing  to  be  good.  Accordingly  all 
that  believed  had  come  and  settled  there,  and 
a  great  many  Indians  had  come  to  hear,  and 
many  more  were  expected.  That  some  white 
people  were  afraid,  but  they  were  foolish, 
for  they  would  not  hurt  any  one." 

The  moral  teachings  of  the  Prophet  were 
not  objectionable,  as  the  sins  he  specially 
condemned  were  witchcraft,  lying,  stealing, 
poisoning  people,  fighting,  murdering,  drink 
ing  whisky,  beating  their  wives  and  lewd- 
ness,  but  he  taught  also  that  acceptance  of 
the  customs  of  the  whites  was  a  sin  for  In 
dians,  for  which  they  were  being  punished. 
And  these  have  always  been  the  general 
lines  of  the  teachings  of  Indian  prophets. 
They  had  been  followed  by  the  great  Dela 
ware  prophet,  forty  years  earlier,  who  was 
largely  instrumental  in  bringing  on  the  con 
spiracy  of  Pontiac  (Ottawa  for  "an  anchor 

97 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

pole" — i.  e.,  a  pole  thrust  in  the  bottom  of  a 
lake  or  river  for  holding  a  small  boat).  They 
have  been  followed  by  most  of  the  Indian 
prophets  since  then,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  ad 
mirable  study  of  "The  Ghost  Dance  Reli 
gion/'  by  our  Indiana  ethnologist,  James 
Mooney,  which  forms  the  second  volume  of 
the  fourteenth  annual  report  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology.  It  is  the  natural  hope  of  a 
people  who  feel  themselves  being  crushed  by 
a  superior  power  that  the  Almighty  will  in 
some  way  intervene  in  their  behalf,  if  they 
repent  and  abandon  their  sins.  But  this 
also  naturally  encourages  hostility  to  the  su 
perior  race  among  the  younger  and  more 
warlike  individuals,  and  it  certainly  had  that 
effect  in  this  case. 

In  the  spring  of  1808  The  Prophet  and 
his  followers  moved  from  Greenville  to  the 
Wabash,  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Tippe- 
canoe.  Their  town  there  is  commonly  called 
Kethtippecanunk,  which  should  be  Ke-tap'-e- 
kon-nunk'  for  it  means  Tippecanoe  town,  or 
place,  and  the  Potawatomi  name  of  that 
stream  is  Ke-tap'-e-kon — in  Miami  Ke-tap'- 
kwon,  which  is  the  name  of  the  buffalo  fish, 
formerly  abundant  in  the  river.  This  was 

98 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

in  the  territory  of  the  Potawatomis,  who  al 
ways  had  a  strong  tendency  to  the  supernat 
ural,  as  is  shown  by  the  names  they  have 
left  us.  There  is  Manitou  Lake,  which  they 
believed  to  be  inhabited  by  an  evil  spirit. 
Near  it  is  a  tributary  of  the  Tippecanoe,  to 
which  the  people  of  the  vicinity  still  give  trie 
proper  Potawatomi  name  of  Chip-wah-nuck', 
or  Ghost  Hole,  and  which  has  some  connec 
tion  with  the  mysteries  of  the  lake.  The  St. 
Joseph  River — the  principal  stream  of  their 
country — they  called  Sahg'-wah-se'-pe,  which 
may  be  translated  Mystery  River,  for  sahg'- 
wah  means  a  mushroom,  or  anything  that 
comes  up  in  the  night  without  any  seed  hav 
ing  been  planted.  Their  legend  of  the  origin 
of  this  name  is  that  they  once  found  a  strange 
Indian  sitting  on  the  bank  of  this  stream, 
and  no  one  ever  learned  who  he  was  or 
whence  he  came ;  so  they  called  him,  and  also 
the  stream,  Sahg'-wah. 

Most  curious  of  all  is  the  name  Shipshe- 
wana,  given  to  a  lake  and  its  outlet  stream 
in  Lagrange  County.  Wah-we-as'-see  (Full 
Moon — literally  the  Round  One),  a  grand 
son  and  namesake  of  the  old  chief  for  whom 
Lake  Wawasee  was  named,  more  commonly 

99 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

known  as  Thomas  Topash — his  mother,  old 
Wahweasee's  daughter,  having  married  a 
Miami  named  Topash  (Sweating;  i.  e.,  as  a 
pitcher  of  cold  water  collects  moisture  on  a 
warm  day) — says  this  is  properly  Shup'-she- 
wah'-no,  and  means  "Vision  of  a  Lion." 
Whatever  a  Potawatomi  sees  in  a  vision  aft 
er  fasting  is  called  "wah'-no,"  and  the  origi 
nal  Indian  of  this  name  saw  a  lion.  To  my 
remonstrance  that  lions  were  not  found  in 
this  country,  and  that  the  name  must  have 
been  given  long  before  a  Potawatomi  ever 
saw  a  lion,  he  replied :  "That  is  nothing.  The 
Indians  see  everything  in  their  visions.  They 
saw  the  whites  long  before  they  came  to  this 
country.  They  have  seen  all  the  animals  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  that  nobody  ever  saw. 
This  man  saw  a  fierce,  wild  beast,  with  a  big 
head  and  mane,  and  afterward  when  the  In 
dians  saw  a  lion  they  knew  it  was  shup'-she." 
At  the  new  home  on  the  Wabash,  The 
Prophet's  religion  prospered  greatly,  and  its 
fame  spread  far  and  wide.  Hunter,  the  In 
dian  captive,  and  others  tell  of  its  spread 
among  the  Odjibwas  and  other  tribes  of  the 
North,  how  they  abandoned  whisky,  discard 
ed  textile  clothing  and  returned  to  skins, 

100 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

threw  away  their  \vitch-bags,  killed  their 
dogs  and  abandoned  the  white  man's  ways, 
even  to  giving  up  flint  and  steel  for  making 
fires  and  resuming  the  primitive  and  tedious 
mode  of  rubbing  two  dry  sticks  together. 
Others  tell  of  its  spread  to  the  Osages,  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  the  Cherokees, 
Creeks  and  other  Southern  tribes.  Hundreds 
gathered  to  the  village,  where  the  life  was 
of  religious  solemnity.  There  were  public 
services  morning  and  evening,  with  speak 
ers  who  discoursed  on  the  duties  of  man,  the 
pauses  of  their  sermons  being  noted  by  a 
loud  "seguoy,"  or  sort  of  "amen,"  from  the 
hearers.  McNemar  says  of  one  of  these 
services :  "On  this  occasion  our  feelings  were 
like  Jacob's  when  he  cried  out,  'How  dread 
ful  is  this  place!  Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this 
place !'  And  the  world  knew  it  not." 

With  the  growth  of  the  new  religion  the 
alarm  of  the  whites  increased.  Temskwah- 
tawah  protested  to  General  Harrison  that  his 
designs  were  peaceable,  but  depredations  on 
the  frontier  continued,  and  from  friendly 
Indians  on  all  sides  came  assurances  that  he 
meant  open  war  as  soon  as  he  was  strong 
enough.  Tecumtha  himself  openly  declared 

101 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

that  the  boundary  lines  of  the  treaty  of  1809 
should  not  be  run.  Finally,  in  1811,  Gov 
ernor  Harrison  and  the  national  authorities 
decided  that  the  safety  of  the  frontiers  de 
manded  the  breaking  up  of  The  Prophet's 
town. 

In  September,  the  chief  part  of  the  forces 
for  the  expedition  having  been  assembled, 
they  moved  up  the  Wabash  to  a  point  two 
miles  above  Terre  Haute,  where  Fort  Har 
rison  was  built.  After  completing  it,  and 
being  reinforced  by  the  rest  of  the  troops 
called  for,  the  expedition  proceeded  on  Octo 
ber  28.  It  was  composed  of  nine  companies 
of  regulars — eight  from  the  Fourth  Regi 
ment  and  one  from  the  Rifle  Regiment;  six 
companies  of  infantry  from  the  Indiana  mi 
litia,  and  Biggers'  company  of  Indiana  Rifle 
men;  three  companies  of  Indiana  Mounted 
Riflemen;  two  companies  of  Indiana  Dra 
goons  ;  two  companies  of  Kentucky  Mounted 
Riflemen,  and  a  company  of  scouts  and 
spies.  The  companies  were  small,  the  entire 
force  aggregating  a  little  over  one  thousand, 
of  whom  one-fourth  were  mounted.  On  Oc 
tober  31,  having  passed  Big  Raccoon  Creek 
(Hough's  map  marks  this  stream  Che-que-ak 


IO2 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

—evidently  intended  for  She'-qui-ah,  which 
is  the  Miami  term  for  a  poor,  or  lean,  rac 
coon),  the  army  crossed  the  Wabash  near 
the  present  town  of  Montezuma.  From  this 
point  it  kept  to  the  prairie  country  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river,  to  avoid  possibility  of 
ambush.  On  November  2,  the  army  camped 
two  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Ver- 
million,  and  erected  a  blockhouse  twenty-five 
feet  square,  at  which  a  small  guard  was  left 
to  protect  the  boats  that  had  been  used  in 
bringing  the  supplies  thus  far.  The  army 
then  proceeded  through  the  prairies,  usually 
at  some  distance  from  the  river,  and  on  No 
vember  6  came  in  sight  of  The  Prophet's 
town.  The  scouts  were  sent  forward  to  ask 
a  conference  with  The  Prophet,  but  as  some 
Indians  appeared  and  seemed  to  attempt  to 
cut  them  off,  they  were  recalled,  and  the 
army  moved  forward.  It  had  come  to  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  from  the  town 
when  some  Indians  came  out  and  asked  a  halt 
and  a  conference.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
troops  should  go  into  camp  over  night  at 
what  is  now  known  as  "the  battle  ground," 
and  that  hostilities  should  be  suspended  un 
til  a  conference  could  be  held  on  the  follow- 

103 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

ing  day.  Governor  Harrison  says  of  the 
camping  place,  "It  was  a  piece  of  dry  oak 
land  rising  about  ten  feet  above  the  level  of 
a  marshy  prairie  in  front  [i  e.,  to  the  south 
east],  and  nearly  twice  that  height  above  a 
similar  prairie  in  the  rear,  through  which 
and  near  to  this  bank  ran  a  small  stream 
clothed  with  willows  and  other  brushwood. 
Toward  the  left  flank  this  bench  of  land 
widened  considerably,  but  became  gradually 
narrower  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  at 
the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
terminated  in  an  abrupt  point/'  Here  the 
troops  were  disposed  in  hollow  formation, 
the  left  flanks  of  front  and  rear  lines  being 
occupied  by  the  regulars  and  the  right  by 
Indiana  militia.  The  left  flank  was  covered 
by  the  Kentucky  militia,  back  of  whom  were 
the  dragoons,  and  the  right  flank  by  Spen 
cer's  Mounted  Riflemen.  Although  no  at 
tack  was  anticipated,  all  preparations  were 
made  for  it,  except  fortifying  the  camp,  and 
Harrison  said  this  was  omitted  for  lack  of 
axes.  The  men  slept  on  their  arms,  and  ex 
plicit  orders  were  given  for  forming  the 
lines  in  case  of  attack. 

There  has  been  some  contention  as  to  the 

104 


PECANOE 

andBatt 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

intent  of  the  Indians,  and  the  events  of  that 
night,  but  the  truth  was  probably  told  later 
by  White  Loon  (Wah-pi-mon'-gwah),  one 
of  the  leading  chiefs  present.  He  said  that 
there  was  no  intention  to  attack  until  the 
Potawatomi  chief  Winamac  (Cat  Fish — lit 
erally  mud  fish),  arrived  and  insisted  on  it. 
A  council  was  convened  and  most  of  the 
chiefs  opposed  attack,  but  Winamac  de 
nounced  them  as  cowards,  said  it  was  now 
or  never,  and  threatened  unless  the  attack 
was  made 'to  withdraw  and  take  with  him  the 
Potawatomis,  who  formed  about  one-third 
of  the  town.  Then  the  attack  was  agreed 
to.  White  Loon,  Winamac  and  Stone  Eater 
(Sa'-ne-ma-hon'-ga)  were  put  in  command, 
the  Indian  force  being  about  equal  to  that 
of  the  whites.  The  Prophet  made  a  speech, 
in  which  he  assured  them  of  success,  saying 
that  his  charms  would  protect  them  from 
the  bullets  of  the  whites,  and  the  warriors 
went  into  the  battle  as  confident  of  super 
natural  protection  as  any  religious  fanatics 
that  ever  lived. 

They  had  intended  to  attack  on  three  sides 
simultaneously,  but  a  sentinel,  Stephen 
Mars,  caught  sight  of  them  as  they  crept 

106 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

in  close  to  the  lines,  up  the  bank  from  Bur 
netts'  Creek,  at  the  northwest  angle,  and 
fired  the  alarm  shot. .  The  Indians  who  were 
close  enough  attacked  at  once,  breaking  the 
lines  at  some  points  and  in  two  or  three  in 
stances  penetrating  to  the  tents.  Mars  was 
killed  as  he  fled.  The  recklessness  of  the  as 
sault  showed  their  faith  in  The  Prophet's 
protection,  and  it  took  two  hours  of  stubborn 
fighting  to  convince  them  of  its  futility. 

Governor  Harrison  was  quickly  at  the 
point  of  attack  after  the  first  firing,  and,  find 
ing  the  lines  at  that  point  somewhat  broken, 
ordered  up  two  companies  for  support.  By 
that  time  a  heavy  firing  began  at  the  north 
east  angle,  and  Harrison,  turning  there, 
found  Maj.  Jo  Daveiss  (this  is  the  correct 
spelling — not  Daviess,  as  it  has  been  handed 
down)  anxious  to  charge  the  enemy.  After 
two  refusals  he  was  given  permission  to 
charge,  and  dashed  forward  with  only  twenty 
men.  The  Indians  fell  back  from  the  front 
and  gathered  on  their  flanks,  pouring  in  a 
heavy  fire  that  drove  back  the  charging 
party,  with  Major  Daveiss  mortally  wound 
ed.  The  firing  now  extended  all  around  the 
camp,  and  was  especially  heavy  on  the  left 

107 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

flank,  where,  as  on  the  right  flank,  the  In 
dians  could  approach  on  high  ground  under 
cover  of  the  trees.  The  morning  was  dark 
and  cloudy,  and  it  had  rained  intermittently 
during  the  night.  The  campfires  gave  the 
Indians  the  advantage  in  aiming,  and  they 
were  extinguished  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
lines  were  reinforced  wherever  needed,  and 
held  intact.  So  the  fight  went  on  in  the  dark, 
from  a  little  after  four  o'clock  till  daybreak, 
when  gallant  charges  were  made  on  the  right 
and  left  flanks,  and  the  Indians  were  chased 
into  the  marshes  where  the  horsemen  could 
not  follow.  They  did  not  return. 

The  pursuit  was  not  extended  far,  for  the 
army  had  its  hands  full.  Thirty-seven  men 
had  been  killed,  and  151  wounded,  of  whom 
twenty-five  afterwards  died.  The  cattle  had 
escaped,  and  had  been  driven  away ;  and  the 
troops  had  recourse  to  horse-flesh  for  meat. 
A  report  was  started  that  Tecumtha  was  on 
his  way  to  the  place  with  1,000  warriors. 
November  7th  was  occupied  with  burying  the 
dead,  caring  for  the  wounded,  and  throwing 
up  breastworks  of  logs.  On  the  8th  the 
mounted  men  advanced  to  the  town,  and 
found  that  the  Indians  had  deserted  it  in 

108 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

haste,  leaving  almost  all  their  possessions. 
After  gathering  up  the  copper  kettles,  with 
what  corn  and  beans  they  could  carry,  the 
troops  applied  the  torch  and  destroyed  all 
that  was  left.  There  remained  no  doubt 
that  the  Indians  knew  they  were  whipped. 
Their  force  in  the  fight  was  probably  about 
equal  to  that  of  the  whites,  and  although  re 
ports  as  to  their  loss  varied  widely,  it  is  cer 
tain  that  it  was  no  less  than  that  of  the 
troops.  Tecumtha  was  not  in  the  vicinity, 
having  gone  south  to  try  to  secure  the  alli 
ance  of  the  southern  tribes,  and  it  is  very 
well  established  that  The  Prophet  had  given 
battle  in  defiance  of  Tecumtha's  express  or 
ders. 

He  had  met  defeat,  and  it  was  more  than  a 
mere  defeat.  A  religion  was  shot  and  bay 
oneted  to  death  on  that  field.  Across  Bur 
nett's  Creek  stands  a  large  boulder,  known 
to  this  day  as  The  Prophet's  Rock.  Either 
on  this  or,  as  some  say,  on  a  bluff  farther  to 
the  east,  The  Prophet  stood  as  his  men 
fought,  making  his  charms  and  singing  his 
incantations  to  the  Manitous.  But  to  his 
appeals  the  bullets  of  the  frontiersmen  gave 
back  the  mocking  answer  of  Elijah  to  the 


no 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  PROPHET 

prophets  of  Baal — "Cry  aloud,"  for  "perad- 
venture  he  sleepeth  and  must  be  awaked." 
Was  he  sincere?  Did  he  expect  supernat 
ural  aid?  Certainly  he  staked  his  all  on  the 
outcome.  And  he  lost  all ;  for  even  his  most 
devoted  followers  realized  that,  if  there  was 
any  divine  interference  at  that  time,  the  stars 
in  their  courses  fought  against  Tenskwahta- 
wah. 

After  the  battle  he  sought  to  explain  the 
disaster  by  saying  that  his  wife  had  touched 
his  sacred  instruments  and  destroyed  the 
charm,  but  in  vain.  His  reputation  as  a 
prophet  was  gone.  For  awhile  he  took  ref 
uge  with  a  party  of  Wyandots  on  Wild  Cat 
Creek  (often  called  Ponce  Passu,  or  Ponceau 
Pichou,  corruptions  of  the  French  name 
Panse  au  Pichou,  which  is  a  literal  transla 
tion  of  the  Miami  name  Pin-je'-wah-mo'-ti, 
or  Wildcat's  Belly)  ;  but  soon  he  retired  to 
Canada,  and  later  in  life  joined  a  band  of 
Shawnees  west  of  the  Mississippi,  where  he 
died  in  1834.  Catlin,  who  met  him  and 
painted  his  portrait  there  in  1832,  speaks  of 
him  as  "doomed  to  live  the  rest  of  his  days 
in  silence,  and  a  sort  of  disgrace;  like  all 
men  in  Indian  communities  who  pretend  to 

in 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 


great  medicine  in  any  way,  and  fail ;  as  they 
all  think  such  failure  an  evidence  of  the  dis 
pleasure  of  the  Great  Spirit,  who  always 
judges  right." 


113 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WILLIAM    WELLS. 

One  of  the  most  trying  ordeals  of  the  pio 
neers,  in  Indian  warfare,  was  the  captivity 
of  children.  Their  parents  naturally  imag 
ined  that  they  were  doomed  to  lives  of  hard 
ship  and  misery,  but  in  reality  they  were 
more  often  adopted  by  Indian  families,  in 
place  of  lost  children  of  their  own,  and 
treated  with  all  the  indulgence  shown  to 
their  own.  This  was  especially  so  with 
healthy,  promising  children,  and  the  more- 
so  if  they  showed  spirit. 

For  example,  Peter  Smock,  grand-uncle 
of  Wm.  C.  Smock,  of  Indianapolis,  was  car 
ried  off  from  Kentucky  and  adopted  in  the 
family  of  a  Potawatomi  named  Winamac 
(Catfish).  The  squaws  first  tried  to  make 
a  servant  of  him,  but  when  he  was  left  to 
care  for  a  child,  he  pinched  and  otherwise 
maltreated  it  until  his  services  as  a  nurse  be 
came  undesirable.  At  this  the  Indians  mere- 

113 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

ly  laughed,  and  said  there  was  no  use  of  try 
ing  to  make  a  squaw  of  him;  that  he  was  a 
brave.  They  next  tried  to  make  him  hoe 
corn,  but  soon  found  that  he  dug  up  much 
more  than  he  hoed.  Then  the  squaws  tried 
to  wash  him  in  a  stream,  which  is  their  proc 
ess  of  "washing  out  the  white  blood  and 
making  an  Indian,"  but  he  got  one  of  them 
under  the  water  and  came  near  drowning 
her  before  she  was  rescued.  This  feat  put 
him  in  still  higher  favor,  and  he  was  not 
troubled  thereafter. 

Among  the  children  carried  into  captivity 
from  Kentucky  was  William  Wells.  He 
was  captured  in  1774  by  a  band  of  Miamis, 
when  about  eight  years  old,  at  the  home  of 
the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Pope.  He  was  a  sturdy, 
spirited  lad,  with  high  courage  and  an  apt 
ness  for  hunting  that  quickly  made  him  a 
favorite.  Heckewelder  says  he  was  adopted 
by  a  Miami  named  Gawiahatte,  or  the 
Hedgehog,  but  there  must  be  some  error  in 
this,  for  Gawiahatte  is  Delaware,  and  the 
Miami  word  for  hedgehog  is  ah'-kah-wit. 
The  tradition  handed  down  in  the  Wells 
family  is  that  he  was  adopted  by  The  Little 
Turtle.  Kil-so-kwa  says  that  the  Miamis 

114 


WILLIAM  WELLS 

called  William  Wells  A-pe-kon-it,  and  that 
this  is  the  name  of  a  plant  called  the  "wild 
potato,"  which  grows  in  mucky  land.  There 
are  several  native  plants  called  "wild  potato" 
or  "Indian  potato."  One  is  the  "man  of  the 
earth"  (ipomea  pandurata),  one  of  the 
morning  glory  family,  which  has  tubers 
reaching  ten  pounds  or  more  in  weight.  An 
other  is  the  Jerusalem  artichoke  (helianthus 
tuberosa),  which  the  Shawnees  call  to-pe-ka, 
but  our  Miamis  call  it  on'-zah-pa-kot'-tek,  or 
"yellow  flower."  These  grow  in  dry  soil, 
and  a-pe-kon'-it  is  what  we  know  as  the 
"ground-nut"  or  "wild  bean"  (apios  tube 
rosa),  which  grows  in  low  ground. 

Wells  grew  very  fully  into  Indian  ideas. 
Heckewelder,  who  knew  him  well,  says  he 
once  came  upon  him  after  he  had  shot  a 
bear,  and  broken  its  back.  The  bear  was 
whining  piteously,  and  Wells  was  standing 
in  front  of  it,  gravely  talking  to  it,  and  occa 
sionally  striking  it  on  the  nose  with  his  ram 
rod.  Heckewelder  asked  him  what  he  had 
said  to  the  bear  and  he  replied:  "I  have  up 
braided  him  for  acting  the  part  of  a  coward ; 
I  told  him  that  he  knew  the  fortune  of  war ; 
that  one  or  the  other  of  us  must  have  fallen ; 

us 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

that  it  was  his  fate  to  be  conquered,  and  he 
ought  to  die  like  a  man,  like  a  hero,  and  not 
like  an  old  woman;  that  if  the  case  had  been 
reversed,  and  I  had  fallen  into  the  power  of 
my  enemy,  I  would  not  have  disgraced  my 
nation  as  he  did,  but  would  have  died  with 
firmness  and  courage,  as  becomes  a  true 


warrior/' 


The  Indians  accorded  Wells  the  standing 
his  merits  warranted.  He  became  a  close 
friend  of  Little  Turtle,  who  gave  him  his 
daughter  in  marriage,  and  thereafter  they 
were  constant  companions.  Wells  served 
with  distinction  under  his  father-in-law  in 
the  defeats  of  Harmar  and  St.  Clair,  win 
ning  admiration  by  his  dash  and  courage. 

It  is  commonly  stated  that  after  the  latter 
affair  Wells  seriously  reflected  on  the  fact 
that  he  was  fighting  his  own  people,  and 
might  shed  the  blood  of  his  own  kindred,  and 
on  this  account  decided  to  join  the  whites. 
The  story  handed  down  in  the  Wells  family 
differs  from  this.  Their  version,  given  as 
coming  from  Wells  himself,  is  that  Wells 
and  The  Little  Turtle  were  in  entire  accord 
in  their  views  of  the  situation,  and  especially 
as  to  the  necessity  of  bringing  about  amica- 

116 


WILLIAM   WELLS 

blc  relations  between  the  Indians  and  the 
United  States.  For  this  reason  it  was  agreed 
that  Wells  should  join  Wayne  and  use  his 
influence  with  the  whites  while  The  Little 
Turtle  tried  to  bring  about  a  more  pacific 
frame  of  mind  among  the  Indians.  The  two 
parted  at  a  point  on  the  Maumee,  some  two 
miles  east  of  Ft.  Wayne,  long  known  as  "the 
Big  Elm."  With  clasped  hands,  and  both 
men  visibly  affected,  Wells  said:  "Father, 
when  the  sun  reaches  the  noon  mark  I  shall 
leave  you  and  go  to  my  people.  We  have  al 
ways  been  friends  and  always  will  be 
friends.  Upon  the  field  of  battle  we  may 
meet  again.  Let  the  result  be  what  it  may, 
the  purity  of  the  motives  prompting  us,  and 
our  common  love  for  the  wronged  Indians 
must  be  our  warrant ;  and  we  may  well  trust 
the  Great  Spirit  for  results  that  will  vindi 
cate  our  action  this  day."  Wells  then  made 
his  way  to  the  army  of  General  Wayne,  who 
made  him  captain  of  a  company  of  spies  and 
he  served  in  that  capacity  until  after  the  bat 
tle  of  the  Fallen  Timbers,  rendering  invalu 
able  service.  There  are  two  facts  that  go  to 
confirm  this  story.  One  is  the  known  oppo 
sition  of  The  Little  Turtle  to  fighting 

117 


CAPT.  WILLIAM  WELLS. 

(From  a  medallion  portrait,  now  in 
possession  of  his  great-great-niece, 
Mrs.  Thos.  W.  McCluer,  of  O'Fal- 
lon,  Mo.) 


WILLIAM  WELLS 

Wayne.  The  other  is  the  fact  that  Wayne, 
after  reaching  the  Maumee  with  his  army, 
sent  out  messengers  to  the  Indians  urging 
them  to  come  to  him  and  make  peace,  al 
though  every  effort  in  that  direction  thereto 
fore  had  been  wholly  unavailing. 

With  the  coming  of  peace,  Wells  rejoined 
his  Indian  friends  at  Fort  Wayne.  His 
friendship  with  Little  Turtle  was  resumed, 
and  he  accompanied  that  great  chief  on  his 
various  journeys,  acting  as  his  interpreter. 
He  learned  to  read  and  write  well,  and  stud 
ied  all  the  books  he  could  obtain,  being  aided 
in  this  by  General  Harrison  and  others.  He 
served  as  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  also  as  Indian  agent  at  Fort 
Wayne.  He  aided  Little  Turtle  in  keeping 
the  Miamis  out  of  Tecumtha's  forces,  and 
there  was  comparative  peace  after  the  battle 
of  Tippecanoe  through  the  early  part  of 
1812.  In  May  of  1812  a  large  council  of 
Indians  was  held  on  the  Mississinewa,  in 
which  were  deputations  of  Wyandots,  Chip- 
pewas,  Ottawas,  Potawatomies,  Delawares, 
Miamis,  Kickapoos,  Shawnees  and  Winne- 
bagos.  They  all  made  protestations  of 
friendship,  including  Tecumtha  himself. 

119 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

But  on  June  18  the  United  States  declared 
war  on  Great  Britain,  and  thereafter  British 
emissaries  were  actively  engaged  in  calling 
the  Indians  to  their  aid.  On  July  17  the 
American  post  at  Mackinac  surrendered  to 
a  force  of  British  and  Indians.  A  large 
force  menaced  Detroit,  where  General  Hull 
was  in  command,  and  early  in  August,  pur 
suant  to  directions  from  Washington,  from 
General  Macomb,  commanding  the  army. 
General  Hull  directed  Captain  Heald,  com 
manding  Fort  Dearborn,  to  evacuate  the 
fort,  if  practicable,  and  in  that  event,  to  dis 
tribute  all  the  United  States  property  con 
tained  in  the  fort,  and  in  the  United  States 
factory  or  agency,  among  the  Indians  in  the 
neighborhood.  At  the  same  time  General 
Hull  requested  Captain  Wells,  then  Indian 
agent  at  Fort  Wayne,  to  proceed  to  Fort 
Dearborn  with  a  party  of  friendly  Miamis, 
to  escort  the  garrison  and  the  whites  there 
to  Detroit. 

Fort  Dearborn  was  at  the  site  of  Chicago. 
It  was  built  in  1803,  and  stood  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  Chicago  river  near  its  mouth. 
It  was  a  log  structure,  with  blockhouses  at 
northwest  and  southeast  corners.  On  the 

120 


,.v.'-5gB»W' 

fi&*.&£2£2ri* 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

north  side  was  a  subterranean  passage,  or 
sally  port,  leading  from  the  parade  ground 
to  the  river,  designed  for  escape  in  emer 
gency,  and  for  water  supply  in  case  of  siege. 
The  whole  was  surrounded  with  a  strong 
palisade  of  posts  set  on  end.  It  was  garri 
soned  by  fifty-four  regulars  and  twelve  mi 
litiamen  under  Capt.  Nathan  Heald.  The 
site  was  historic.  When  first  known  by  the 
whites,  "Chicagou"  was  a  large  Miami 
town.  There  has  been  much  discussion  as 
to  the  meaning  of  the  name,  some  affirming 
that  it  means  "the  place  of  the  skunk,"  and 
others  "the  place  of  wild  onions."  The  rea 
son  of  this  confusion  is  that  the  stem  "she- 
kaug"  enters  into  both  the  word  for  skunk 
and  the  word  for  onion,  and  in  such  case  the 
only  way  to  get  the  exact  meaning  is  from 
the  reason  of  the  name.  This  was  given  by 
Lamothe  Cadillac  in  1695,  who  said  it  was 
called  "the  place  of  garlic"  or  wild  onions, 
on  account  of  the  quantity  of  this  plant  that 
grew  there;  and  this  is  confirmed  by  other 
early  French  writers. 

On  August  9,  in  the  afternoon,  the  Pota- 
watomi  chief,  Winamac  (or  Winimeg — 
Catfish),  arrived  at  the  fort  with  the  orders 

122 


WILLIAM   WELLS 

from  General  Hull  for  its  evacuation.  After 
delivering  them  he  went  to  John  Kinzie,  a 
trader  at  the  post,  and  urged  that  the  post 
be  not  abandoned;  that  the  garrison  had 
ammunition  and  provisions  for  a  six  months' 
siege;  but  that  if  Captain  Heald  decided  to 
leave  the  post  the  evacuation  should  be  made 
at  once,  and  without  notice  to  the  Indians, 
who,  he  said,  were  hostile.  This  was  com 
municated  to  Captain  Heald,  but  he  said  his 
orders  were  to  distribute  the  goods,  and  he 
must  assemble  the  Indians  for  that  purpose, 
if  he  acted  conscientiously.  And  in  justice 
to  Captain  Heald  it  should  be  remembered 
that  his  course  was  approved  by  his  su 
periors,  and  that  he  was  promoted  soon 
afterward. 

The  Indians  were  accordingly  notified  to 
assemble,  and  it  was  soon  observed  that  their 
spirit  was  hostile.  On  the  12th  Heald  held 
a  council  with  them  before  the  fort.  The 
other  officers  declined  to  attend,  having 
heard  that  the  younger  warriors  intended 
to  assassinate  the  officers  at  this  time;  but 
remained  in  the  fort  and  trained  the  loaded 
cannon  on  the  assembly,  which  perhaps  pre 
vented  any  outbreak  at  the  time.  From  the 
first  the  minor  officers  and  men  opposed 

123 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

evacuating  the  fort  and  remonstrated  with 
Heald.  He  said  that  even  if  he  desired  to 
stay  he  lacked  provisions.  It  was  answered 
that  there  were  cattle  enough  to  keep  them 
for  six  months.  He  urged  that  he  had  no 
salt  to  preserve  the  meat.  It  was  suggested 
that  it  be  "jerked/'  but  he  insisted  that  he 
must  obey  orders  and  abandon  the  post. 

It  was  a  trying  situation.  On  one  side 
the  officers  and  men  were  opposed  to  leaving 
the  fort,  almost  to  the  point  of  mutiny,  and 
the  traders  and  friendly  Indians  agreed  with 
them;  while  on  the  other  hand  Heald  ap 
peared  to  be  impelled  by  a  conscientious 
sense  of  duty,  without  regard  to  conse 
quences,  comparable  only  to  that  which  led 
the  Modoc  peace  commissioners  into  the 
death-trap  of  the  lava  beds.  He  had  told  the 
Indians  on  the  12th  that  they  would  leave 
the  fort,  and  divide  the  goods  among  them, 
and  this  he  finally  consented  to  modify  on 
the  urgent  advice  of  Kinzie  and  others,  by 
withholding  and  destroying  the  liquor  and 
the  surplus  arms  and  ammunition.  On  the 
13th  another  council  was  held  with  the  Indi 
ans,  and  the  surplus  provisions,  paints, 
clothes  and  ordinary  supplies  were  divided 

124 


WILLIAM  WELLS 

among  them.  That  night  the  liquor,  arms 
and  ammunition  were  carried  into  the  sally 
port,  the  liquor  emptied  into  the  river,  and 
the  arms  and  ammunition  destroyed.  But 
the  Indians  learned  of  this,  and  these  were 
the  supplies  that  they  most  desired.  They 
afterward  said  that  their  destruction  was 
the  cause  of  their  attack  on  the  troops. 

On  the  14th  Captain  Wells  arrived  with 
thirty-two  Miamis  to  aid  the  garrison.  He, 
too,  had  prepared  to  oppose  the  evacuation, 
but  the  provisions  and  ammunition  and  arms 
were  now  gone,  and  it  was  too  late  to  at 
tempt  to  hold  the  fort.  The  Indians  showed 
increased  signs  of  hostility.  On  the  evening 
of  the  14th  the  Black  Partridge  (Ma-kah- 
ta-pa-ke),  a  friendly  Potawatomie,  came  to 
the  quarters  of  Captain  Heald  and  said: 
"Father,  I  come  to  deliver  up  to  you  the 
medal  I  wear.  It  was  given  me  by  the 
Americans,  and  I  have  long  worn  it  in  token 
of  our  mutual  friendship.  But  our  young 
men  are  resolved  to  stain  their  hands  with 
the  blood  of  the  whites.  I  can  not  restrain 
them,  and  I  will  not  wear  a  token  of  peace 
while  I  am  compelled  to  act  as  an  enemy." 

On  the  morning  of  the  15th,  at  9  o'clock, 

125 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  garrison  began  its  march  from  the  fort. 
Wells,  with  fifteen  of  his  Miamis,  were  in 
advance.  Then  came  the  soldiers;  then  the 
wagons  with  the  women  and  children,  the 
remainder  of  the  Miamis  bringing  up  the 
rear.  Some  five  hundred  Indians  marched 
along'  with  them,  having  promised  Heald  to 
act  as  an  escort.  Wells  had  blackened  his 
face,  as  these  Indians  do  on  the  warpath. 

As  they  marched  out,  the  musicians 
played  the  dead  march  from  Saul,  symboliz 
ing  the  evacuation,  and  also,  unconsciously, 
the  tragedy  to  follow.  The  Indian  trail  they 
followed  led  along  the  lake  beach.  About 
half  a  mile  from  the  fort  there  began  a  ridge 
of  sand  hills  about  a  hundred  yards  back 
from  the  lake.  As  they  reached  this  point 
the  Indians  left  them  and  moved  back  to  the 
prairie  behind  the  sand  hills,  and  when  there 
hurried  forward  behind  the  hills  and  took 
a  position  for  attack.  About  a  mile  farther 
on  Wells  came  riding  back,  crying,  "They 
are  about  to  attack  us;  form  instantly  and 
charge  on  them."  His  words  were  followed 
by  a  shower  of  bullets  from  the  sand  hills. 
The  soldiers  formed  in  line  and  charged, 
gaining  the  summit  of  one  of  the  hills.  They 

126 


WILLIAM  WELLS 

fought  gallantly,  but  they  were  only  a  hand 
ful  surrounded  by  ten  times  their  number  of 
savages.  The  Miamis  deserted  and  went 
over  to  the  enemy  at  the  outset.  The  sol 
diers  continued  their  defense  until  half  of 
their  number  had  fallen,  when  the  Indians 
made  signs  for  a  parley.  Captain  Heald 
went  forward  alone,  and  was  met  by  Black 
Bird  (Ma-kah-ta-pe-na-she),  who  promised 
protection  to  the  survivors  if  they  would  sur 
render.  Captain  Heald  accepted  the  terms 
and  the  battle  ended. 

During  the  fighting  Wells  turned  back  to 
the  wagons,  apparently  apprehensive  for  the 
women  and  children.  He  came  up  to  Mrs. 
Heald,  who  was  his  favorite  niece,  the 
daughter  of  his  brother,  Col.  Samuel  Wells. 
He  was  bleeding  at  the  mouth  and  nostrils, 
and  told  her  he  was  fatally  wounded,  but 
that  he  had  killed  seven  of  the  redskins.  He 
asked  her  to  tell  his  wife  that  he  had  died 
fighting  for  their  protection.  He  then 
turned  back  to  the  fight,  but  soon  noticed 
that  the  Indians  had  gained  the  wagons  and 
were  tomahawking  the  women  and  children. 
Shouting,  "Is  that  their  game,  butchering 
women  and  children  ?  Then  I  will  kill,  too," 

127 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

he  turned  his  horse  toward  the  Indian  camp, 
where  they  had  left  their  squaws  and  chil 
dren.  He  was  pursued  by  a  number  of  In 
dians,  but  he  urged  his  horse  on,  lying  flat 
on  its  neck  as  he  loaded  his  gun,  and  turn 
ing  occasionally  to  fire,  until  a  ball  killed  his 
horse,  and  he  fell  under  it,  entangled  in  the 
stirrup.  At  this  point  Winamac  and  Wau- 
ban-see  (The  Looking  Glass)  ran  forward 
to  save  his  life,  but  as  they  got  him  on  his 
feet  another  Indian  stabbed  him  in  the  back 
and  ended  his  life.  The  Indians  cut  his 
heart  out  and  ate  it,  under  their  idea  that  in 
this  way  his  courage  would  be  transmitted 
to  them. 

In  this  affair  twenty-six  regulars,  twelve 
militiamen,  two  women  and  twelve  children 
were  killed.  The  Kinzies,  with  Mrs.  Heald, 
Mrs.  Helm  and  Sergeant  Griffith  were  saved 
through  the  good  offices  of  Black  Partridge, 
Sau-gan-ash  (Englishman,  commonly  known 
as  Billy  Caldwell),  To-pen-i-bee  (Quiet  Sit 
ting  Bear — the  head  chief  of  the  Potawato- 
mis — the  name  appertains  to  the  bear  to 
tem)  and  other  friendly  Indians.  Captain 
Heald  and  Lieutenant  Helm,  both  of  whom 
were  wounded,  were  also  saved  by  friendly 

128 


FORT  DEARBORN  MONUMENT. 
(Black  Partridge  saving  the  life  of  Mrs.  Helm.) 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Indians.  Most  of  the  wounded  were  killed 
and  the  remaining  prisoners  were  dispersed 
among  the  Indians  during  the  winter.  Part 
of  them  were  sent  to  Detroit  to  be  ransomed 
in  the  spring.  Six  are  known  to  have  been 
killed  or  to  have  died  of  exposure  in  captiv 
ity.  Mrs.  Burns  and  Mrs.  Lee,  with  their 
infant  children,  were  surrendered  later  by 
the  Indians,  as  was  also  the  wife  of  Sergeant 
Holt. 

The  fighting  and  the  massacre  occurred 
practically  in  the  space  now  bounded  by 
Michigan  and  Indiana  avenues  and  Four 
teenth  and  Twenty-first  streets,  in  the  city 
of  Chicago.  The  sand  hills  were  long  ago 
removed.  Having  plundered  the  fort,  on 
the  morning  after  the  massacre,  the  Indians 
set  fire  to  it  and  destroyed  it.  So  ended  the 
first  Fort  Dearborn.  In  1816  the  fort  was 
rebuilt  and  the  bones  of  the  victims  of  the 
massacre,  which  had  lain  where  they  fell, 
were  then  gathered  up  and  buried  near  the 
foot  of  Madison  street.  Later,  owing  to  the 
washing  of  the  river  and  the  lake,  they  were 
reinterred  by  the  authorities  of  Chicago. 


130 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON. 

When  General  Harrison  marched  up  the 
Wabash  to  Tippecanoe,  in  1811,  Capt.  Spier 
Spencer's  company  of  mounted  riflemen, 
from  Harrison  County,  familiarly  known  as 
"the  Yellow  Jackets,"  started  behind  the 
main  force.  They  were  a  gorgeous  body, 
wearing  yellow  jackets  and  yellow  shirts 
with  red  fringe,  and  with  black-tipped  red 
plumes  in  their  hats.  According  to  the 
journal  of  John  Tipton,  who  was  one  of 
them,  they  had  a  very  sociable  and  pleasant 
time  on  the  march,  and  on  October  3  Tipton, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  original  and  ar 
tistic  of  spellers  that  Indiana  ever  produced, 
made  this  entry: 

"Thursday  3d  marched  at  9  four  of  our 
horses  missing  three  men  left  to  hunt  them 
marchd  one  mile  came  to  tare  holt  an  oald 
indian  village  on  the  East  side  of  Wabash 
on  high  land  near  a  Large  Prairie  Peach 

131 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

and  aple  trees  growing  the  huts  torn  down 
by  the  armey  that  campd  here  on  the  2d 
two  miles  further  came  up  with  the  armey. 
horses  found.  Campd  on  the  river  on  beau- 
tifull  high  ground  to  build  a  garison." 

This  was  the  beginning  of  Fort  Harrison. 
The  "oald  indian  village"  stood  where  the 
city  of  Terre  Haute  now  stands,  and  was 
commonly  called  by  the  same  name,  as  Tip- 
ton  indicates,  but  it  was  also  sometimes 
called  "Old  Orchard  Town,"  and  sometimes 
"The  Lower  Wea  Town,"  or  "We-au-ta- 
non."  It  was  a  village  of  We-ah-ta-nons, 
who  were  a  tribe  of  the  Miamis.  The  name 
Terre  Haute  was  applied  to  the  locality  be 
fore  the  village  existed,  or  as  the  English 
put  it,  "The  Beginning  of  the  Highlands," 
for  here  the  bottom  lands  of  the  Wabash 
begin  to  narrow,  as  you  go  upstream,  and 
this  point  marked  the  dividing  line  on  the 
Wabash  between  the  French  provinces  of 
Canada  and  Louisiana. 

Fort  Harrison,  while  primarily  a  relay 
point  for  the  Tippecanoe  expedition,  was  de 
signed  as  a  permanent  defense  for  Vin- 
cennes  and  the  frontiers.  On  Sunday,  Oc 
tober  27,  Tipton  notes  "the  garrison  christ- 

132 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 

ened  and  extra  whisky  issued;"  and  on 
Tuesday  the  army  moved  on.  The  fort  was 
the  ordinary  log  structure  of  the  time,  with 
blockhouses  at  two  opposite  corners,  from 
\vhose  projecting  upper  stories  the  outside 
of  the  inclosing  pickets  could  be  reached  by 
the  guns  of  the  garrison.  After  the  Tippe- 
canoe  campaign  it  was  occupied  by  a  com 
pany  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  of  United 
States  regulars,  under  Capt.  Zachary  Tay 
lor,  afterward  President  of  the  United 
States;  and  in  the  fall  of  1812,  as  was  usual 
at  frontier  posts,  a  number  of  the  soldiers 
were  incapacitated  or  debilitated  by  ague 
and  malarial  fever.  There  had  also  been 
several  desertions. 

On  the  3d  of  September  some  friendly 
Miamis  informed  Captain  Taylor  that  the 
Indians  under  control  of  The  Prophet  would 
soon  attack  the  place,  and  that  they  had 
been  warned  to  leave.  On  the  same  evening 
at  twilight  the  reports  of  four  guns  were 
heard  in  the  direction  where  two  young  men 
from  the  fort  had  been  making  hay,  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  fort.  Captain 
Taylor  had  been  reared  in  Kentucky  and 
had  been  educated  in  woodcraft  by  Lewis 

133 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 

Whetzell,  the  celebrated  Indian  fighter,  so 
he  did  not  send  out  an  investigating  party 
that  night,  but  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning 
a  corporal  was  sent  out  with  a  small  party, 
who  soon  reported  finding  the  bodies  of  the 
two  men,  shot  and  scalped;  and  they  were 
brought  in  and  buried.  Late  in  the  evening 
of  the  4th  old  Josey  Renard  (a  Kickapoo, 
whose  proper  name  was  Na-mah-toha,  or 
"Standing" — sometimes  translated  "Man- 
on-his-Feet"),  appeared  before  the  fort  with 
about  forty  Indians  under  a  white  flag  and 
announced  that  they  wanted  to  have  a  talk 
in  the  morning,  and  to  try  to  get  something 
to  eat,  after  which  they  retired.  Captain 
Taylor  was  alert.  He  examined  the  arms  of 
the  men  to  see  that  they  were  in  perfect 
order,  issued  sixteen  rounds  of  ammunition, 
and,  as  the  night  was  dark  and  the  sentinels 
could  not  see  every  part  of  the  fort,  directed 
the  officer  of  the  guard  to  patrol  the  inside. 
He  then  went  to  bed,  as  he  was  just  recov 
ering  from  an  attack  of  fever. 

Through  the  surrounding  woods  a  force 
of  about  600  warriors  crept  to  the  cover 
nearest  the  fort  in  the  quiet  night.  The  at 
tack  was  planned  by  a  Kickapoo  chief  known 

135 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

as  La  Farine  (a  French  translation  of  his 
Indian  name  P'kwaw'-shi-kun  -  -  Judge 
Beckwith  makes  it  Pa-koi-shee-can — which 
is  their  word  for  wheat,  and  also  for  flour  or 
bread  made  of  wheat).  According  to  his 
own  story,  he  made  up  a  bundle  of  dry  grass, 
twigs,  and  other  combustibles,  which  he 
wrapped  in  a  blanket,  and  fastened  on  his 
back.  Then,  flat  on  his  face,  he  crawled  for 
ward,  with  a  large  knife  in  each  hand.  He 
would  stick  a  knife  in  the  ground  and  pull 
himself  up  to  it,  and  then  stretch  out  the 
other  arm.  Very  slowly,  listening  to  the 
movements  of  the  sentinels,  and  moving  only 
as  they  went  away  from  him,  he  crept  on 
till  he  reached  the  walls  of  the  lower  block 
house. 

Here  fortune  favored  him.  The  lower 
part  of  the  building  was  used  by  the  post 
contractor  for  the  storage  of  provisions,  salt 
and  whisky,  and  the  cattle  had  licked  several 
holes  under  the  bottom  logs  to  get  at  the 
salt.  In  these  he  introduced  his  combusti 
bles,  and  with  flint  and  steel  soon  had  them 
ignited,  keeping  the  flame  under  cover  of 
his  blanket  until  it  was  well  started.  Then 
he  slipped  back  into  the  darkness. 

136 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 

About  11  o'clock  Captain  Taylor  was 
awakened  by  the  discharge  of  a  sentinel's 
gun,  and  ran  out  and  ordered  the  men  to 
their  posts.  His  orderly,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  upper  blockhouse,  called  to  him  that 
the  Indians  had  fired  the  lower  blockhouse, 
and  he  at  once  had  the  buckets  filled  from 
the  well  in  the  fort.  But  the  men  were  few, 
and  some  of  them  feeble,  and  by  the  time  the 
water  was  brought  and  the  door  broken  open 
the  fire  had  reached  the  whisky,  and  the 
blockhouse  was  doomed.  As  the  barracks, 
which  formed  part  of  the  walls  of  the  fort, 
joined  this  blockhouse,  most  of  the  men 
thought  they  were  lost,  and  for  a  few  min 
utes  panic  reigned.  Says  Taylor: 

"What  from  the  raging  of  the  fire,  the 
yelling  and  howling  of  several  hundred  In 
dians,  the  cries  of  nine  women  and  children 
(a  part  soldiers'  and  a  part  citizens'  wives, 
who  had  taken  shelter  in  the  fort),  and  a 
desponding  of  so  many  men,  which  was 
worse  than  all,  I  can  assure  you  that  my 
feelings  were  very  unpleasant;  and,  indeed, 
there  were  not  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  men 
able  to  do  anything  at  all,  the  others  being 
sick  or  convalescent.  And  to  add  to  our 

137 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

other  misfortunes,  two  of  our  stoutest  men 
jumped  the  pickets  and  left." 

But  young  Taylor  had  the  same  qualities 
that  gained  him  the  title  of  "Old  Rough  and 
Ready"  in  the  Mexican  war.  He  quickly 
determined  on  throwing  the  roof  off  of  the 
barracks,  where  they  joined  the  blockhouse, 
drenching  the  walls  with  water,  and  throw 
ing  a  barricade  across  the  opening  made  by 
the  burning  building.  Having  convinced 
the  men  that  this  could  be  done,  they  worked 
with  desperation  to  accomplish  it.  Dr. 
Clark,  the  post  surgeon,  who  distinguished 
himself  by  his  bravery  throughout  the  ac 
tion,  led  the  party  that  threw  off  the  roof, 
and  this  was  done  with  the  loss  of  one  man 
killed  and  two  wounded.  The  spread  of  the 
fire  was  checked,  and  a  barricade  was  soon 
thrown  across  the  opening  as  high  as  a  man's 
head.  These  moves  saved  the  fort. 

While  they  were  in  operation  a  constant 
fire  was  maintained  from  the  fort,  and  the 
Indians  poured  in  a  heavy  fire  of  bullets  and 
an  immense  number  of  arrows.  But  they  did 
not  have  the  advantage  they  anticipated. 
The  fire  lighted  up  the  surroundings  of  the 
fort,  and  they  did  not  dare  to  advance  to 

138 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 

close  quarters.  They  kept  up  their  firing 
until  6  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  daylight 
made  the  guns  of  the  fort  more  effective,  and 
then  withdrew  out  of  range.  But  they  drove 
up  the  horses  and  hogs  of  the  settlers  near 
the  fort,  which  they  could  not  catch,  and 
shot  them ;  and  they  drove  off  sixty-five  head 
of  cattle  belonging  to  the  settlers  as  well  as 
the  oxen  belonging  to  the  fort. 

There  were  only  two  men  killed  in  the 
fort.  One  was  engaged  in  throwing  the  roof 
off  the  barracks,  and  failed  to  get  down 
when  directed.  The  other  was  firing  over  the 
pickets,  and  called  that  he  had  killed  an  In 
dian;  and,  as  he  raised  his  head  above  the 
pickets  to  look  for  his  victim,  was  himself 
shot.  Of  the  two  men  who  tried  to  escape, 
one  was  killed  about  130  yards  from  the 
fort,  and  the  other  made  his  way  back  to 
the  gate  and  begged  for  it  to  be  opened. 
Taylor  thought  this  an  Indian  stratagem 
and  ordered  him  shot;  but  fortunately  Dr. 
Clark  recognized  his  voice  and  directed  him 
to  lie  down  behind  a  barrel  that  was  lying 
near  the  fort.  He  did  so,  and  after  daylight 
was  admitted  to  the  fort  with  a  badly  broken 
arm  and  some  other  injuries.  In  addition 
.  139 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

to  these,  two  men  were  wounded,  but  not 
seriously. 

The  Indians  engaged  in  the  attack  were 
chiefly  Potawatomis,  Kickapoos  and  Win- 
nebagos,  but  Taylor  says  there  were  also 
a  number  of  Miamis.  A  French  interpreter 
in  the  fort  asserted  that  he  recognized  the 
Wea  chief,  Stone  Eater  ( Sa'-ne-ma-hon'- 
gah),  and  the  Miami  chief,  Negro  Legs  (a 
nickname;  his  name  was  Muk'-kwah-ko- 
non'-gah,  which  may  be  rendered  "Bear 
Marks/'  as  it  means  the  scratches  on  the 
bark  of  a  tree  made  by  a  bear  in  climbing). 
The  Indian  loss  was  never  learned,  as  they 
carried  their  dead  and  wounded  away  with 
them,  but  probably  it  was  not  large. 

Before  night  of  the  5th  Taylor  had  closed 
up  the  gap  made  by  the  burned  blockhouse 
by  putting  up  a  strong  row  of  pickets,  which 
were  obtained  by  pulling  down  the  guard 
house.  The  fort  was  now  safe  from  direct 
attack,  but  was  in  a  bad  way  for  provisions, 
as  the  supplies  had  been  burned;  and  for 
some  days  the  inmates  had  to  subsist  on 
green  corn,  which  fortunately  was  abun 
dant.  On  the  10th  Taylor  attempted  to  send 
messengers  to  Vincennes  by  river,  as  none 

140  . 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

of  his  men  knew  the  country,  but  they  found 
the  Indians  watching  the  river,  and  were 
forced  to  turn  back.  On  the  13th  Taylor 
sent  two  more  messengers  by  land,  who  suc 
ceeded  in  getting  through,  but  relief  was  al 
ready  on  the  way.  News  of  the  attack  on 
the  fort  had  reached  Vincennes  on  the  6th 
by  messengers  who  had  started  for  Fort 
Harrison,  and  had  been  driven  back  by  the 
Indians.  Troops  were  assembling  at  Vin 
cennes  for  the  war,  and  on  the  12th  a  force 
of  1,200  men,  under  Col.  William  Russell, 
started  from  Vincennes  to  the  relief  of  the 
fort.  They  found  no  Indians,  but  a  party 
of  eleven  men  that  followed  them,  escorting 
a  provision  train  for  Fort  Harrison,  was 
attacked  at  "The  Narrows,"  in  Sullivan 
County,  and  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  seven 
men,  and  all  the  provisions.  Colonel  Russell 
left  Colonel  Wilcox's  regiment  of  Kentucky 
volunteers  at  the  fort,  temporarily,  and  the 
Indians  soon  disappeared  from  the  vicinity. 
The  gallant  defense  of  Fort  Harrison  had 
a  most  cheering  effect  on  the  frontiers,  and 
praises  were  showered  on  Captain  Taylor 
and  Dr.  Clark  from  all  sides.  Taylor  was  bre- 
vetted  a  major  by  General  Harrison,  and  his 

142 


THE  DEFENSE  OF  FORT  HARRISON 

regular  commission  as  major  followed  on 
May  15,  1814.  He  served  against  the  In 
dians  in  the  Northwest  during  the  remainder 
of  the  war,  taking  part  in  the  expedition  of 
General  Hopkins,  and  other  movements,  al 
ways  with  creditable  mention.  It  has  long 
been  felt  that  his  service  to  this  region  has 
not  been  recognized  as  it  should  be,  and  on 
February  25,  1908,  the  Indiana  Society  of 
the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  started 
a  movement  to  have  the  site  of  Fort  Harri 
son  made  a  national  historic  park.  Its  pres 
ent  owner,  Mr.  Ehrmann,  is  willing  to  dis 
pose  of  it  for  that  purpose,  but  for  no  other, 
as  he  feels  that,  if  not  consecrated,  the  place 
should  at  least  not  be  desecrated.  It  is  cer 
tainly  to  be  hoped  that  the  movement  will 
succeed  and  that  Fort  Harrison  Park  will 
be  handed  down  to  future  generations  as  a 
memorial  to  American  valor. 


143 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   PIGEON    ROOST    MASSACRE. 

At  the  northern  border  of  Clark's  Grant, 
as  you  cross  the  spur  of  the  Knobs,  known 
as  "the  Silver  Hills,"  into  Scott  County,  you 
come  to  the  valley  of  Pigeon  Roost  Creek. 
It  was  so  named  because  there  was  here  one 
of  those  notable  gathering  places  of  the  wild 
pigeons  that  were  so  common  in  the  Ohio 
valley  in  early  times.  Great  forests  of  beech 
trees  furnished  their  favorite  food,  and 
countless  thousands  of  these  birds  gathered 
to  nest  and  raise  their  young.  They  were  so 
numerous  and  so  easily  taken  that  they  were 
sold  at  25  cents  a  bushel.  Whether  from  the 
great  slaughter  of  the  pigeons,  or  the  re 
moval  of  the  beech  woods,  the  birds  disap 
peared  so  completely  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  nineteenth  century  that  it  was  commonly 
believed  that  either  they  were  extinct  or  they 
had  migrated  to  some  other  country.  But  no 
evidence  of  any  such  migration  has  been 

144 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

found,  and  since  1899  their  appearance  in 
small  flocks  has  been  frequently  reported  in 
various  parts  of  the  country. 

In  this  valley  a  settlement  was  begun  in 
1809,  and,  notwithstanding  the  troubled  con 
dition  of  the  frontier,  the  settlers  enjoyed 
comparative  peace  for  some  time.  There 
were  no  Indians  permanently  located  near 
to  them,  and  the  stragglers  who  came  into 
their  vicinity  were  not  troublesome,  and 
used  to  trade  with  them  and  hold  shooting 
matches  with  them.  Most  of  these  settlers 
were  related.  Near  the  center  of  the  set 
tlement,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  southeast  of  the 
present  monument,  was  the  home  of  Will 
iam  E.  Collings,  a  man  sixty  years  of  age, 
but  well  preserved,  and  an  expert  rifleman. 
With  him  lived  his  youngest  children,  Lydia 
and  John,  the  latter  thirteen  years  of  age. 
A  hundred  yards  east  was  the  cabin  of 
Henry  Collings,  a  son.  Three-quarters  of  a 
mile  east  was  the  cabin  of  another  son,  Rich 
ard,  whose  family  consisted  of  a  wife  and 
seven  children.  Some  two  miles  to  the  west 
was  the  home  of  John  Biggs,  and  about 
three  miles  to  the  southwest  was  the  home  of 
Dr.  John  Richie,  both  of  whom  had  mar- 

145 


PIGEON  ROOST  SETTLEMENT. 

I.  Monument.  2.  Wm.  E.  Ceilings  house.  3.  Henry  Ceilings 
house.  4.  Richard  Ceilings  house.  5.  Zebulon  Ceilings  house, 
and  block  house.  6.  Dr.  Richie  house.  7.  John  Biggs  house. 
8.  CofTman  house.  9.  Jeremiah  Payne  house.  10.  Silver  Creek 
block  house. 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

ried  daughters  of  William  Ceilings.  Scat 
tered  to  the  north  of  the  settlement  were  the 
homes  of  the  brothers,  Jeremiah  and  Elias 
Payne,  Isaac  Coffman  and  Daniel  Johnson, 
who  were  also  relatives,  the  last  three  hav 
ing  married  three  sisters  named  Bridge- 
water.  As  a  measure  of  precaution  there 
had  been  three  blockhouses  erected  in  the 
vicinity;  one  near  the  present  town  of  Vien 
na,  some  six  miles  north  of  the  Pigeon  Roost ; 
one  about  eight  miles  southeast  of  this  on 
Silver  Creek,  and  one  five  miles  south  of  the 
Pigeon  Roost,  at  the  home  of  Zebulon  Col- 
lings,  another  son  of  William. 

On  September  3,  1812,  the  same  day  that 
the  hostilities  began  at  Ft.  Harrison,  a  war 
party  of  twelve  Shawnees  crossed  White 
River  at  the  present  town  of  Sparksville,  and 
stealthily  made  their  way  to  the  unsuspect 
ing  settlement.  They  first  came  to  the  cabin 
of  Elias  Payne,  north  of  Vienna.  He  was 
absent,  and  his  wife  and  seven  children  were 
speedily  killed  and  scalped.  Keeping  away 
from  the  Vienna  blockhouse,  they  passed  on 
to  the  south,  but  on  the  way  they  tried  to  kill 
some  cows  belonging  to  Jeremiah  Payne, 
and  when  the  animals  ran  home  bellowing, 

147 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

with  arrows  sticking  in  their  sides,  he  real 
ized  the  danger  and  hastily  took  his  wife  and 
child  to  the  blockhouse.  He  then  hurried 
away  to  warn  his  brother's  family,  but  found 
the  cabin  in  flames,  while  scattered  house 
hold  goods  and  strips  of  human  flesh  hung 
on  trees  showed  that  the  Indians  had  ac 
complished  their  mission  here. 

The  next  victims  found  by  the  Indians 
were  Elias  Payne  and  Isaac  Coffman,  who 
were  hunting  bee  trees  in  the  woods  north 
of  Pigeon  Roost.  The  savages  crept  up  on 
them  and  opened  fire,  killing  CofTman  and 
wounding  Payne,  who  fled  and  was  pursued 
for  two  miles  before  he  was  overtaken  and 
mortally  wounded.  His  faithful  dog,  ap 
parently  realizing  his  master's  helpless  con 
dition,  returned  to  the  Vienna  blockhouse 
and  attracted  the  attention  of  Jeremiah 
Payne,  who  boldly  started  out  in  search  of 
his  brother.  Led  by  the  dog,  he  found  Elias 
unconscious  and  dying,  and,  having  put  him 
in  as  easy  a  position  as  possible,  he  went  to 
get  help,  but  on  his  return  Elias  was  dead. 
They  buried  him  where  he  lay,  and  the  grave 
is  still  pointed  out  near  the  road,  west  of 
Vienna. 

148 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

Moving  on  to  the  south,  the  Indians  came 
to  the  home  of  Richard  Collings,  who  was 
away  on  militia  service,  and  his  wife  and 
seven  children  fell  easy  victims  to  savage 
fury.  After  scalping  them  and  firing  the 
house,  they  moved  on  toward  the  home  of 
Henry  Collings.  He  was  working  in  the 
field  when  he  was  struck  in  the  head  by  a 
bullet,  and  the  Indians  left  him  for  dead.  His 
wife  had  been  to  Jeremiah  Payne's  to  get 
spools  for  warping,  and  was  met  by  the  In 
dians  on  her  return.  They  killed  her  and 
with  savage  atrocity  ripped  her  unborn  child 
from  her  body,  scalped  it  and  left  it  lying  on 
the  mother's  breast. 

But  now  the  Indians  had  reached  the  dan 
ger  point.  At  the  home  of  William  Collings 
was  Captain  Norris,  an  old  Indian  fighter, 
who  had  been  wounded  in  the  shoulder  at 
Tippecanoe  and  who  had  been  sent  to  the 
settlement  to  urge  the  desirability  of  a  block 
house  at  this  point.  Mr.  Collings  thought  it 
unnecessary,  and  while  they  were  discussing 
the  question  they  were  alarmed  by  shots  and 
caught  sight  of  the  Indians  approaching  the 
house  of  Henry  Collings.  They  at  once  pre 
pared  for  the  defense  of  the  house,  where 

149 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

there  were  fortunately  two  rifles.  Norris 
could  not  shoot  well  on  account  of  his  wound 
ed  shoulder,  but  could  aid  in  loading  the 
guns.  The  daughter  Lydia  was  set  to  mold 
ing  bullets.  The  boy  John  had  started  to 
drive  up  the  cows  and  had  caught  a  horse 
for  that  purpose,  when  he  saw  an  Indian 
approaching.  Dropping  the  reins  he  ran  for 
the  house,  but  the  Indian  was  gaining  on 
him  when  his  father  caught  sight  of  them, 
and  at  the  crack  of  his  rifle  the  pursuer  fell, 
while  John  safely  reached  the  shelter  of  the 
cabin. 

Collings  took  the  other  rifle,  and  as  he 
looked  through  the  cabin  loophole  saw  a  big 
warrior  at  the  door  of  Henry  Colling's  home. 
It  was  a  hundred  yards  away,  but  that  was 
easy  shooting  for  a  frontier  marksman  and 
Collings  was  a  good  one,  as  the  Indians 
knew,  for  he  had  often  beaten  them  in  shoot 
ing  matches.  He  fired  and  the  Indian  dropped 
dead.  The  Indians  now  realized  that  they 
had  trouble  on  their  hands,  and  one  of  them 
tried  the  strategem  of  putting  on  the  dress 
and  shawl  of  Mrs.  Henry  Collings,  and  ap 
proaching  in  that  disguise.  But  the  keen 
eye  of  Collings  detected  the  deception  and 

150 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

his  deadly  rifle  ended  the  life  of  one  more 
redskin.  After  that  the  enemy  kept  care 
fully  under  cover,  and  apparently  divided 
their  forces,  part  going  westward  in  search 
of  easier  prey  and  part  remaining  to  watch 
the  Collings  house.  But  the  occupants  of 
this  were  alert  and  vigilant,  and  gave  no  op 
portunity  for  attack  while  daylight  lasted. 

After  dark  they  realized  that  the  situation 
was  more  dangerous,  as  the  Indians  might 
succeed  in  firing  the  cabin,  and  they  decided 
to  slip  away  from  it  and  get  to  the  block 
house,  south  of  them.  The  children  and  Nor- 
ris  went  ahead,  taking  one  of  the  guns,  and 
Collings  guarded  the  rear.  The  first  three 
gained  the  adjoining  cornfield  without  mo 
lestation,  but  as  Collings  passed  the  corncrib, 
an  Indian  who  was  concealed  behind  it  fired 
at  him,  but  without  hitting  him.  He  raised 
his  rifle,  but  found  that  the  Indian's  bullet 
had  broken  the  lock,  and  the  gun  could  not 
be  fired.  He  called  to  Norris  to  bring  back 
the  other  gun,  but  Norris  either  did  not  hear 
or  did  not  heed,  and  as  the  Indians  did  not 
attempt  to  come  to  close  quarters,  he  made 
his  way  into  the  corn,  where  he  became  en 
tirely  separated  from  the  others,  and  the  In- 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

dians  followed  him.  He  passed  through  the 
corn  and  through  the  woods  till  he  came  to 
the  vicinity  of  Richie's  cabin,  where  he  hid 
behind  a  log.  He  heard  the  Indians  looking 
for  him,  but  they  did  not  find  his  hiding  place, 
and  at  daybreak  he  started  for  the  block 
house,  which  he  reached  without  further 
trouble.  Meanwhile  Norris  and  the  children 
lost  their  way  in  the  darkness,  and  after  wan 
dering  hopelessly  in  the  woods  until  they 
were  exhausted  they  sat  down  to  rest  and 
soon  fell  asleep,  notwithstanding  the  peril  of 
their  situation.  When  daylight  came  they 
got  their  bearings  and  found  their  way  to 
the  blockhouse  in  safety. 

The  defense  of  the  Collings  house,  al 
though  the  active  part  of  it  lasted  less  than 
an  hour,  served  as  a  check  that  probably 
saved  many  lives,  for  evening  was  approach 
ing,  and  the  sound  of  the  firing  served  as  a 
warning  to  the  scattered  settlers.  The  In 
dians  who  went  to  the  west  found  only  one 
home  where  the  people  were  not  on  their 
guard.  This  was  the  residence  of  John  Mor 
ris,  who  was  away  on  militia  service,  and  his 
mother,  his  wife  and  his  only  child  all  fell 
victims  to  the  tomahawk.  The  cabin  of  John 

152 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

Biggs  was  found  empty  by  the  Indians.  At 
sundown  Mrs.  Biggs  had  gone  to  the  woods 
to  look  for  her  cow,  accompanied  by  her  two 
children,  and  carrying  her  baby  in  her  arms. 
As  she  came  near  the  edge  of  the  woods,  on 
her  return,  she  heard  the  shouts  of  the  In 
dians,  who  had  surrounded  the  house,  and  at 
once  started  in  flight  to  the  blockhouse.  The 
Indians  fired  the  cabin,  and  finding  that  it 
was  empty,  entered  the  woods  in  search  of 
the  family;  and  at  one  time  came  so  close  to 
them  that  Mrs.  Biggs  heard  their  foot 
steps  and  their  voices.  While  in  imminent 
danger  of  discovery,  the  baby  began  to  cry, 
and  she  was  unable  to  quiet  it  in  any  way 
but  by  holding  her  shawl  over  its  mouth. 
When  the  Indians  had  got  out  of  hearing 
she  found  to  her  horror  that  the  baby  was 
smothered  to  death.  For  some  minutes  she 
was  overcome  by  grief,  but  the  necessity  of 
saving  the  living  nerved  her  for  further 
effort,  and,  carrying  her  dead  child  in  her 
arms,  she  slowly  and  painfully  pursued  her 
way  through  the  woods  with  the  two  chil 
dren  until  they  arrived  at  the  blockhouse, 
about  daylight. 

Others  were  even  more  fortunate  in  their 
153 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

escape.  Ben  Yount,  who  lived  east  of  the 
settlement,  heard  the  shooting  in  the  after 
noon,  and  mounting  a  horse,  with  his  wife 
behind  him,  and  each  carrying  a  child,  the 
family  went  to  the  blockhouse  on  Silver 
Creek.  Dr.  John  Richie  also  caught  the 
alarm  while  working  in  the  field,  and  hast 
ening  home,  took  his  wife,  who  was  ill,  upon 
his  back  and  carried  her  through  the  corn 
field  to  the  woods.  Here  they  spent  most 
of  the  night  in  hiding,  and  reached  the 
lower  blockhouse  in  the  morning.  Mrs. 
Betsey  Johnson  heard  shooting  and  screams, 
and  started  to  the  blockhouse  at  once.  It 
was  none  too  soon,  for  she  looked  back  and 
saw  her  house  in  flames,  but  she  made  her 
escape  unharmed.  Mrs.  Beal,  who  lived 
near  the  settlement,  and  whose  husband  was 
away  with  the  militia,  heard  the  guns  and 
fled  to  the  woods  with  her  two  children. 
They  hid  in  a  sink-hole  until  after  dark,  and 
then  worked  their  way  to  the  southern 
blockhouse,  where  they  arrived  at  2  o'clock 
in  the  morning. 

After  Jeremiah  Payne  had  made  pro 
vision  for  his  own  family  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  started  to  Clark  County  for  aid. 

154 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

Night  had  fallen,  and  the  road  through  the 
woods  was  a  primitive  one,  but  as  day  was 
breaking  he  reached  Charlestown.  The 
alarm  was  spread  rapidly  and  the  mounted 
riflemen  of  the  militia  soon  began  to  gather. 
A  force  was  quickly  started  to  the  scene  of 
the  tragedy,  under  command  of  Major  John 
McCoy.  As  they  marched  along  they  were 
joined  by  others  to  whom  the  call  for  aid  had 
reached,  and  when  they  came  to  the  Pigeon 
Roost  about  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  there 
were  more  than  200  men  in  the  party. 
Everywhere  was  desolation  and  horror. 
Only  one  house — that  defended  by  Collings 
was  standing,  and  about  the  ruins  were  mu 
tilated  bodies  of  women  and  children.  The 
only  person  found  alive  was  Henry  Collings, 
who  had  recovered  consciousness  and 
crawled  into  a  flaxhouse  and  concealed  him 
self.  He  lived  but  a  short  time  after  he  was 
discovered.  At  3  o'clock  the  trail  of  the 
Indians  was  found  and  followed  until  dark, 
when  the  Muscackituck  River  was  reached. 
It  was  too  swollen  to  cross  in  the  dark,  so 
the  party  encamped  for  the  night,  and  in 
the  morning,  having  learned  that  the  In 
dians  started  early  on  the  preceding  day, 

155 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

and  probably  could  not  be  overtaken,  the 
party  returned  to  the  Pigeon  Roost. 

In  recent  years  a  curious  error  has  be 
come  prevalent,  of  writing  the  name  of  this 
stream  "Muscatatack,"  though  this  form 
was  unknown  in  earlier  times.  It  is  a  Dela 
ware  word,  compounded  of  Mosch-ach'-geu, 
which  means  "clear,"  "not  turbid,"  and 
hit'-tuk,  which  as  a  terminal,  in  composition, 
means  "a  stream,"  and  is  usually  applied  to 
small  and  swift  rivers.  The  proper  Indian 
name  is  Mosch-ach'-hit-tuk — the  "ch" 
sounded  as  in  German — which  may  be 
translated  "Clear  river."  There  is  no 
foundation  for  the  translation  "Pond  river," 
which  is  commonly  given  for  the  name. 

On  their  return  the  militia  gathered  all  the 
human  remains  they  could  find,  and  buried 
them  on  the  hill  opposite  the  Collings 
house.  On  the  next  day,  September  6,  they 
were  reinforced  by  a  company  of  sixty  vol 
unteers  from  Jeffersonville,  under  Captain 
McFarland,  and  350  volunteers  from  Ken 
tucky.  The  united  forces  decided  on  a  retal 
iatory  raid  on  the  Delaware  towns  on  White 
River,  but,  owing  to  disputes  over  the  or 
ganization,  there  being  several  men  desirous 

156 


PIGEON  ROOST  MONUMENT  AND  OLD  SASSAFRAS  TREE. 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

of  command,  the  expedition  was  not  made, 
and  the  forces  dispersed.  It  was  very  well 
that  they  did,  for  the  Delawares  had  noth 
ing  to  do  with  the  massacre,  and  had  been 
friendly  to  the  whites  during  the  Tippecanoe 
campaign.  Moreover,  the  presence  of  the 
militia  was  appreciated  at  home,  for  the 
whole  region  had  been  thrown  into  a  panic, 
and  a  number  of  people  had  left  their  homes 
and  gone  to  Kentucky.  The  courthouse  at 
Charlestown  was  temporarily  converted  into 
a  fort  for  the  protection  of  the  town. 

But  gradually  the  fear  wore  off  and  the 
people  returned  to  their  homes.  Cabins  were 
rebuilt  at  the  Pigeon  Roost,  and  work  re 
sumed,  but  the  shadow  of  the  tragedy  did 
not  rise  for  many  months,  though  there  were 
very  few  Indian  depredations  in  that  neigh 
borhood  thereafter.  Zebulon  Collings,  one 
of  the  returning  settlers,  gives  this  vivid  pic 
ture  of  their  life  while  the  dread  was  upon 
them:  'The  manner  in  which  I  used  to  work 
in  those  perilous  times  was  as  follows:  On 
all  occasions  I  carried  my  rifle,  tomahawk 
and  butcherknife  in  my  belt.  When  I  went 
to  plow  I  laid  my  gun  on  the  plowed  ground 
and  stuck  up  a  stick  by  it  for  a  mark,  so  that 

158 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

I  could  get  it  quick  in  case  it  was  wanted.  I 
had  two  good  dogs;  I  took  one  into  the 
house,  leaving  the  other  out.  The  one  out 
side  was  expected  to  give  the  alarm  which 
would  cause  the  other  inside  to  bark,  by 
which  I  would  be  awakened,  having  my 
arms  always  loaded.  I  left  my  horses  in  the 
stable  close  to  the  house,  having  a  port-hole 
so  that  I  could  shoot  to  the  stable  door.  Dur 
ing  two  years  I  never  went  from  home  with 
any  certainty  of  returning,  not  knowing  the 
minute  I  might  receive  a  ball  from  an  un 
known  hand;  but  in  the  midst  of  all  these 
dangers,  that  God  who  never  sleeps  nor 
slumbers  has  kept  me." 

So  far  as  known,  the  Indians  carried 
away  only  two  prisoners  on  this  raid.  One 
was  a  little  girl  three  years  of  age,  named 
Ginsey  McCoy,  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Jeremiah 
Payne.  She  was  heard  of  afterward  in  an 
Indian  camp  on  the  Kankakee,  and  a  party 
went  to  recover  her,  but  the  Indians  had 
left,  and  no  trace  of  her  could  be  found. 
Many  years  later  her  uncle,  the  Rev.  Isaac 
McCoy,  and  his  wife,  while  on  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians,  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  found  her  the  wife  of  an  Indian  chief, 

159 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

with  several  children.  She  had  remembered 
her  name,  but  had  become  an  Indian  in  feel 
ing.  She  consented  to  return  to  Indiana 
and  visit  her  relatives,  but  after  a  short  stay 
rejoined  her  Indian  family  for  the  remainder 
of  her  life. 

The  other  was  a  boy,  about  10  years  of 
age,  named  Peter  Huffman.  He  and  an 
other  lad  were  in  the  woods,  playing,  when 
they  discovered  some  Indians  approaching. 
Peter  hid  behind  a  log  but  was  discovered, 
while  his  playmate,  who  had  crawled  into  a 
hollow  log,  escaped.  Peter  was  sold  to  some 
other  Indians,  and  was  carried  into  Canada, 
where  he  was  held  for  a  number  of  years. 
At  length  friends  got  word  of  this,  and  Will 
iam  Graham,  a  member  of  the  first  constitu 
tional  convention  of  Indiana,  went  to  Wash 
ington  in  his  behalf.  He  interested  Jonathan 
Jennings,  then  representative,  in  the  case, 
and  they  secured  the  sympathy  of  President 
Monroe,  who  caused  correspondence  to  be 
opened  on  the  subject  with  the  Earl  of  Dal- 
housie,  then  Governor-General  of  Canada. 
The  Governor  interested  himself  in  the  mat 
ter,  and,  by  the  aid  of  a  Catholic  priest  who 
was  well  acquainted  among  the  Indians, 

160 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

finally  succeeded  in  locating  the  captive 
youth,  who  was  returned  in  1824.  But  he, 
too,  soon  wearied  of  civilization,  and  it  is 
said  that  he  went  first  to  Charlestown,  and 
then  to  Jeffersonville,  where  he  took  passage 
on  a  flat  boat  that  was  carrying  a  party  of 
Indians  down  the  river,  in  their  removal  to 
the  west;  and  that  was  the  last  known  of 
him. 

Of  the  Indians  engaged  in  this  affair, 
practically  nothing  is  known  beyond  this 
passage  in  McAfee's  History  of  the  War  of 
1812:  "On  the  20th  (September  1813)  Lieu 
tenant  Griffith,  who  had  been  sent  with  a 
scouting  party  to  the  River  Raisin,  returned 
to  camp  with  an  Indian  prisoner  called  Mis- 
silemetaw,  who  was  a  chief  counsellor  to 
Tecumseh,  and  uncle  to  the  celebrated 
Logan,  but  a  man  of  very  different  prin 
ciples  and  conduct.  He  had  been  the  leader 
of  the  Indians  at  the  massacre  of  the  Pigeon 
Roost,  in  the  Indiana  Territory.  Griffith  had 
caught  him  asleep  in  a  house  at  the  River 
Raisin.  *  *  *  He  was  an  Indian  of  ex 
cellent  information,  and  had  been  the  con 
stant  companion  and  friend  of  Tecumseh. 
Being  under  an  impression  that  he  would 

161 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

now  certainly  have  to  die,  he  gave  Colonel 
Johnson  a  long  and  apparently  very  candid 
account  of  past  transactions  since  the  treaty 
of  Greenville  to  the  present  day.  He  said  the 
British  had  supplied  The  Prophet's  party 
with  arms  and  ammunition  before  the  battle 
of  Tippecanoe;  that  Tecumseh's  plan  for  a 
common  property  in  their  lands  had  been 
strongly  recommended  and  praised  by  Col 
onel  Elliott ;  and  that  the  British  had  used 
every  means  in  their  power,  since  the  year 
1809,  to  secure  the  friendship  and  aid  of  the 
Indians  in  the  event  of  a  war  with  the 
United  States — having  invited  them  to 
Maiden  and  made  them  presents  for  that 
purpose;  and  having  also  represented  to 
them  that  they  should  receive  British  aid  to 
drive  the  Americans  over  the  Ohio  River, 
after  which  they  should  live  in  the  houses 
of  the  inhabitants  and  have  their  daughters 
for  wives.  He  said  he  was  convinced  that 
the  British  had  deceived  them,  and  that  the 
Great  Spirit  had  forsaken  him  in  his  old  age 
for  his  cruelty  and  wickedness." 

For  ninety  years  the  grave  of  the  victims 
was  marked  only  by  a  giant  sassafras  tree, 
over  fourteen  feet  in  circumference  at  its 

162 


THE  PIGEON  ROOST  MASSACRE 

base;  but  by  act  of  February  11,  1903,  an 
appropriation  of  $2,000  was  made  by  the 
Legislature,  through  the  efforts  of  the  Hon. 
James  W.  Fortner,  of  Jeffersonville,  for  a 
monument  to  the  victims  of  the  massacre. 
On  October  1,  1904,  the  completed  monu 
ment,  a  fine  shaft  of  Bedford  limestone,  was 
dedicated.  It  towers  forty-four  feet  above 
the  grave,  companion  sentry  with  the  old 
sassafras,  which  is  fast  falling  to  decay; 
mutely  calling  to  memory  the  most  fearful 
Indian  tragedy  that  was  ever  known  to  the 
soil  of  Indiana. 


163 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  SERVICE  OF  LOGAN. 

The  name  of  Logan  has  three  associations 
with  the  Indian  history  of  Indiana.  The 
first  is  through  the  Mingo  chief,  whose  pa 
thetic  speech,  "Who  is  there  to  mourn  for 
Logan?"  has  become  one  of  the  gems  of  the 
world's  eloquence.  This  speech  was  deliv 
ered  to  John  Gibson,  first  Secretary  and 
some  time  acting  Governor  of  Indiana  Ter 
ritory.  When  a  young  man,  Gibson  was 
captured  by  the  Indians,  and  was  about  to 
be  put  to  death,  when  he  was  saved  by  an 
aged  squaw,  who  adopted  him  as  her  son. 
He  lived  with  the  Indians  for  several  years, 
married  a  sister  of  Logan  and  became 
versed  in  several  Indian  languages.  In  1774 
he  was  with  Lord  Dunmore's  expedition 
when  some  Indians  met  it  under  a  flag  of 
truce  and  asked  that  some  one  be  sent  to 
them  who  could  speak  their  language.  Gib 
son  was  sent  with  them,  and,  having  met  the 

164 


THE   SERVICE   OE   LOGAN 

Indians  in  council,  he  was  called  to  one  side 
by  Logan,  who  gave  him  the  speech  as  a 
message  to  the  British  commander. 

A  second  Logan  was  a  Miami  Indian, 
known  to  the  whites  by  that  name,  who  was 
one  of  the  victims  of  the  Fall  Creek  murders. 

The  third  was  the  Shawnee  warrior, 
known  as  Captain  Logan,  for  whom  the 
city  of  Logansport  was  named.  In  the  fall 
of  1786  a  party  of  Kentuckians  was  led 
against  the  Shawnee  towns  on  Mad  River, 
Ohio,  by  Gen.  Benjamin  Logan.  The  towns 
were  taken  by  surprise,  most  of  the  warriors 
being  absent,  and  about  thirty  women  and 
children  were  captured.  After  the  first 
feeble  resistance  had  ceased,  the  troops  were 
annoyed  by  a  discharge  of  arrows  from 
some  invisible  foe,  and  on  search  found  a 
boy  concealed  in  the  grass,  who  had  under 
taken  this  assault  single-handed.  He  was 
promptly  added  to  the  collection  of  captives, 
and  General  Logan  was  so  much  pleased 
with  the  bravery  and  address  of  the  youth 
that  he  adopted  him  into  his  own  family, 
where  he  grew  to  manhood,  and  was  mar 
ried  to  a  Shawnee  girl,  who  had  been  cap 
tured  in  one  of  the  raids  by  Colonel  Hardin. 

165 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

General  Logan's  son-in-law.  He  received 
the  name  of  James  Logan  and  the  name  fol 
lowed  him  when,  shortly  afterward,  in  an 
exchange  of  prisoners,  he  was  returned  to 
his  people. 

Logan  became  widely  and  favorably 
known  to  both  Indians  and  whites.  He  was 
a  fine-looking  fellow,  six  feet  tall  and  splen 
didly  formed,  with  courage  of  the  highest 
quality.  He  was  always  a  firm  friend  of  the 
whites,  and  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
of  1812  he  joined  the  American  army,  and 
acted  as  one  of  the  guides  on  the  march  of 
General  Hull's  army  to  Detroit.  Soon  after 
he  was  intrusted  with  an  important  mis 
sion.  The  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Ft. 
Wayne  were  giving  indications  of  hostility, 
and  it  was  considered  desirable  to  remove 
the  women  and  children  at  that  point  to  a 
place  of  greater  safety.  John  Johnston,  the 
Indian  agent  at  Piqua,  knowing  Logan  well, 
and  having  great  confidence  in  him,  selected 
him  for  this  duty.  Logan  justified  his 
choice  by  bringing  from  Ft.  Wayne  to  Piqua, 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  through  the  wil 
derness,  twenty-five  women  and  children,  not 
only  in  safety,  but  bearing  grateful  testi- 

166 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

mony  to  his  delicacy  and  kindness.  It  is 
said  that  Logan's  sense  of  responsibility 
was  so  strong  that  he  did  not  sleep  while  the 
journey  was  in  progress. 

The  precaution  was  timely,  for  after  the 
surrender  of  Detroit  by  General  Hull  on 
August  16,  Ft.  Wayne  was  soon  invested  by 
a  force  of  about  five  hundred  warriors. 
They  pretended  to  be  friendly,  but  secret  in 
formation  sent  to  Antoine  Bondie,  an  Indian 
trader,  whom  it  was  the  desire  of  Me'-te-ah 
(Kiss  Me — a  Potawatomi  chief,  who  lived 
at  Cedar  Creek,  nine  miles  above  Ft. 
Wayne)  to  protect,  put  the  garrison  on 
guard.  The  situation,  however,  was  peril 
ous.  There  were  less  than  a  hundred  men 
in  the  fort,  and  only  two-thirds  of  them  were 
fit  for  duty.  The  commandant,  Captain 
Rhea,  was  old  and  was  made  completely  in 
competent  by  intemperance.  The  Indians, 
finding  no  chance  for  taking  the  fort  by  as 
sault,  decided  to  try  treachery,  and  a  plan 
was  formed  by  a  celebrated  Potawatomi 
chief  named  Winamac  (Cat  Fish — not  the 
one  who  figured  at  Fort  Dearborn — the 
name  was  common  among  the  Potawat- 
omis.)  He  gained  the  confidence  of  Captain 

168 


THE   SERVICE   OF  LOGAN 

Rhea,  and  arranged  for  a  conference  with 
a  small  party  of  chiefs  in  the  fort,  on  Sep 
tember  3.  Their  plan  was  to  carry  knives 
and  pistols  under  their  blankets,  assassinate 
the  officers  in  the  council,  and  throw  open 
the  gates  to  their  friends. 

But  meanwhile  deliverance  was  prepar 
ing.  William  Oliver,  a  young  man  who  re 
sided  at  Ft.  Wayne,  had  gone  to  Cincinnati 
on  business,  and,  hearing  of  the  siege  of  the 
fort,  he  joined  the  Ohio  militia,  and  tendered 
his  services  to  General  Harrison  for  an  at 
tempt  to  reach  the  fort.  Harrison  warned 
him  of  the  danger  of  the  undertaking,  but 
Oliver  was  resolute.  He  overtook  the  mi 
litia  at  the  St.  Mary's  River,  where  they 
were  awaiting  reinforcements.  Gen.  Thomas 
Worthington,  an  Indian  commissioner,  who 
was  with  the  troops,  joined  with  Oliver,  and 
the  two  induced  sixty-eight  of  the  militia 
and  sixteen  Shawnees,  among  whom  was 
Logan,  to  start  with  them.  In  two  days  they 
had  reached  a  point  twenty-four  miles  from 
Ft.  Wayne,  but  thirty-six  of  the  party  had 
abandoned  them,  and  the  force  was  not 
strong  enough  to  risk  an  encounter  with  the 
besiegers.  It  was  therefore  decided  that 

169 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Oliver  should  make  an  attempt  to  reach  the 
fort,  accompanied  by  Logan  and  two  other 
Shawnees,  known  as  Captain  Johnny  and 
Brighthorn. 

They  started  at  daybreak  of  September  3, 
\vell  mounted  and  well  armed,  and  proceed 
ing  cautiously,  reached  a  point  four  miles 
east  of  Fort  Wayne  before  they  found  any 
fresh  signs  of  the  enemy.  Here  Logan 
found  places  where  they  had  recently  been 
watching  the  road,  and,  abandoning  it,  they 
cut  across  to  the  Maumee,  which  they 
reached  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the 
fort.  Leaving  their  horses  in  the  brush  they 
reconnoitered  on  foot,  and  finding  no  evi 
dence  of  Indians  between  them  and  the  fort, 
they  remounted,  regained  the  road,  and 
made  a  dash  for  the  east  gate.  They  reached 
it  without  interruption,  but  found  it  locked, 
and  none  of  the  garrison  at  hand.  The  In 
dians  had  moved  around  to  the  west  and 
south  sides  in  preparation  for  their  assault, 
and  the  garrison  was  preparing  for  the  con 
ference.  Oliver's  party  slipped  down  the 
bank  of  the  Maumee,  and  up  again  to  the 
north  side,  coming  around  the  corner  of  the 
fort  as  Winamac  and  his  party  of  chiefs 

I/O 


THE   SERVICE  OF  LOGAN 

came  around  the  opposite  corner  on  their 
treacherous  mission.  They  were  completely 
disconcerted  by  the  unexpected  arrivals, 
whom  they  took  to  be  forerunners  of  a  large 
force,  and  after  shaking  hands,  and  protest 
ing  friendship,  Winamac  and  his  party  with 
drew,  and  Oliver's  party  was  admitted  to 
the  fort.  Quickly  grasping  the  situation, 
Oliver  hastily  wrote  a  letter  to  Worthing- 
ton,  detailing  the  need  of  speedy  relief,  and 
while  the  beseigers  were  still  in  confusion 
and  indecision,  the  east  gate  was  opened 
and  Logan,  Captain  Johnny  and  Brighthorn 
were  started  with  it  to  Worthington's  camp. 
The  enemy  did  not  discover  them  until  they 
were  well  started,  and  then  attempted  a 
pursuit,  but  the  Shawnees  escaped  them  and 
reached  Worthington  the  next  morning. 
The  arrival  of  Oliver's  party  was  remark 
ably  opportune,  for  it  was  agreed  by  the  gar 
rison  that  there  had  not  been  another  hour 
in  the  previous  eight  days  in  which  they 
could  possibly  have  reached  the  fort  in 
safety. 

Immediately  after  their  return  from  the 
pursuit,  the  Indians  began  a  furious  attack 
on  the  fort,  which  was  kept  up  for  seven 

171 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

days.  Several  times  they  succeeded  in  firing 
buildings  with  burning  arrows,  but  the  gar 
rison  always  succeeded  in  extinguishing  the 
flames  and  repulsing  their  assaults.  The  de 
fense  was  resolute  and  vigilant,  Captain 
Rhea  was  practically  deposed  from  com 
mand,  and  his  lieutenants,  Curtis  and  Os- 
trander,  aided  by  Oliver  and  Major  Stickney, 
the  Indian  agent,  took  charge  of  affairs. 
Several  days  after  Oliver's  arrival,  the  be- 
seigers  gained  possession  of  a  trading-house 
near  the  fort,  from  which  they  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  fort,  promising  protection 
in  case  of  surrender,  and  threatening  exter 
mination  otherwise.  They  asserted  that  they 
had  been  reinforced  by  a  number  of  Indians 
and  two  cannons,  with  British  artillerists. 
Meeting  a  prompt  refusal,  they  began  a  fu 
rious  attack  on  the  fort,  but  the  garrison 
was  ready  for  them.  Every  man  was  at  his 
post,  with  several  loaded  guns  at  his  side. 
The  pretended  cannon  were  made  of  wood, 
reinforced  by  hoop  iron,  by  some  British 
traders  who  were  with  them.  One  of  these 
burst  at  the  first  discharge,  and  the  other  at 
the  second.  Lieutenant  Curtis,  who  was  in 
command,  directed  the  men  not  to  fire  until 

172 


THE   SERVICE   OF  LOGAN 

the  Indians  advanced  within  twenty-five 
paces.  The  order  was  obeyed,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  enemy  retired  in  confusion,  hav 
ing  lost  eighteen  killed. 

Meanwhile  General  Harrison  was  coming 
to  the  relief  of  the  fort  with  a  force  which 
grew  as  he  advanced  to  more  than  a  thou 
sand  men.  The  Indians  tried  several  times 
to  surprise  him,  but  failing  in  this,  they  did 
not  risk  a  general  attack.  Their  last  at 
tempted  ambush  was  at  a  place  known  as  the 
Black  Swamp,  five  miles  south  of  Fort 
Wayne,  but  failing  there,  they  fired  the  grass 
and  retired  past  the  fort.  This  was  on  the 
morning  of  September  10,  and  a  few  hours 
later  General  Harrison's  army  drew  up  be 
fore  the  fort,  and  the  siege  was  ended.  Cap 
tain  Rhea  was  court-martialed,  but  allowed 
to  resign.  Several  expeditions  were  sent  out 
to  destroy  the  Indian  towns  within  a  radius 
of  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  which  was  success 
fully  accomplished.  The  fort  was  put  in  a 
complete  state  of  defense,  and  all  available 
cover  within  musket  shot  of  it  was  removed. 
In  the  latter  part  of  September  the  army  be 
gan  its  march  down  the  Maumee  toward  the 
British  and  Indian  establishment  at  the 

173 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

Rapids,  destroying  Indian  villages  and  prop 
erty  as  it  advanced. 

On  November  21  General  Harrison  sent 
out   Black  Hoof    (Ma-kot'-ta-way-kah'-sha 
—the    name    is    written   variously,    usually 
dropping   the   first   syllable),    the   principal 
chief  of  the  Shawnees,  with  about  twenty 
warriors,   including  Logan,   to   reconnoiter 
in  the  direction  of  the  Rapids.     They  en 
countered   a   superior   force   of   hostile   In 
dians,    and    were    forced    to    retreat.     The 
pursuit  was  so  vigorous  that  they  dispersed, 
most  of  the  party  going  to  Fort  McArthur, 
while    Logan,    with    Captain    Johnny    and 
Brighthorn,  made  their  way  to  the  camp  of 
General  Winchester.     They  told  their  story, 
which  was  generally  credited;  but  one  Ken 
tucky  officer  expressed  doubt  of  their  sin 
cerity,  and  this  so  touched  the  sensibility  of 
Logan  that  he  announced  that  they  would 
give  proof  of  their  loyalty  on  the  morrow. 
The  next  morning  the  three  Indians  left  the 
camp,  going  toward  the  Rapids.    They  pro 
ceeded   without   incident  until   noon,   when 
they  dismounted  to  rest.     Here  they  were 
surprised  by   a   band   of   seven   hostile   In 
dians  under  command  of  Elliott,  a  half  breed, 

174 


BLACK  HOOF  (MA-KOT-TA-WAY-KAH-SHA.) 
From  Portrait  formerly  in  National  Gallery.) 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

who  held  a  commission  as  lieutenant  in  the 
British  service,  and  Winamac,  the  Pota- 
watomi  chief  who  had  figured  so  promi 
nently  at  Fort  Wayne. 

Four  of  the  hostile  party  were  mounted, 
and  there  was  no  chance  for  escape.  With 
quick  grasp  of  the  situation,  Logan  walked 
boldly  up  to  Winamac,  with  whom  he  was 
well  acquainted,  and  said  that  they  had 
tired  of  the  American  service,  and  were  on 
their  way  to  give  information  to  the  British 
commander.  After  some  parley  this  expla 
nation  was  accepted,  but  Logan's  party 
were  disarmed  and  they  all  started  toward 
the  British  camp.  After  traveling  a  while 
they  so  gained  the  confidence  of  their  cap 
tors  that  their  guns  were  restored  to  them, 
but  later  Logan  overheard  Winamac  advis 
ing  Elliott  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
killed.  He  then  determined  to  take  the  in 
itiative,  and  the  opportunity  soon  came  when 
the  party  stopped  to  gather  some  haws.  At 
a  signal  Logan  shot  Winamac  and  Captain 
Johnny  shot  Elliott.  Brighthorn  held  his 
fire  until  the  others  had  loaded,  and  then 
mortally  wounded  a  young  Ottawa  chief 
who  was  with  their  captors.  The  firing  now 

176 


THE   SERVICE  OF  LOGAN 

became  general,  and,  as  Logan  leaned  for 
ward  to  shoot,  a  ball  struck  him  just  below 
the  breast  bone  and  passed  through  his  body. 
Immediately  afterward  Brighthorn  was  shot 
through  the  thigh.  It  was  then  decided  to 
retreat,  and  Logan  and  Brighthorn  turned 
their  horses  and  fled,  while  Captain  Johnny 
covered  the  retreat.  They  managed  to  get 
to  Winchester's  camp,  some  eighteen  miles 
away,  in  five  hours,  notwithstanding  their 
wounds;  and  Captain  Johnny  came  in  safely 
in  the  morning  with  the  Ottawa's  scalp  at 
his  belt. 

Logan's  wound  was  fatal.  He  lingered 
for  two  days  in  great  agony,  but  displayed 
such  fortitude  that  General  Winchester  re 
ported,  "More  firmness  and  consummate 
bravery  has  seldom  appeared  in  the  military 
theater."  He  had  vindicated  his  honor,  but 
at  the  cost  of  his  life.  Reparation  was  made 
as  far  as  possible  by  burying  him  with  full 
military  honors.  Major  Hardin  wrote  that 
his  death  caused  "sorrow  as  generally  and 
sincerely  displayed  as  I  have  ever  witnessed" 
in  the  army,  and  with  cause,  for  his  services 
had  been  so  important  that  the  British  had 
offered  a  reward  of  $150  for  his  scalp.  As 

177 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

he  faced  death,  Logan  displayed  much  con 
cern  for  his  two  boys,  and  left  a  dying  in 
junction  to  John  Johnston,  the  Indian  agent, 
to  send  them  to  Kentucky  to  be  educated 
among  his  friends  there.  Johnston  tried  to 
execute  this  request,  but  was  prevented  by 
their  mother,  who  was  backed  by  the  Shaw- 
nee  chiefs  in  her  opposition  to  sending  them 
so  far  away.  The  matter  was  finally  com 
promised  by  attempting  their  education  at 
the  agency,  but  the  facilities  there  were 
slight  and  the  boys  finally  rejoined  their 
tribe,  where  they  became  as  wild  as  any  of 
their  kindred. 

The  Indian  name  of  Captain  Logan  is  us 
ually  written  "Spemica  Lawba,"  and  trans 
lated  "High  Horn,"  but  it  occurs  in  other 
forms.  In  the  treaty  of  1817,  provision  is 
made  for  "the  children  of  Captain  Logan,  or 
Spamagelabe,  who  fell  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  during  the  late  war."  The 
first  word  is  the  Shawnee  "spum'-muk," 
which  also  means  "above"  or  "on  top." 
This  confusion  of  vowel  sounds  is  very  com 
mon  in  Indian  names,  and  is  very  natural, 
for  the  spelling  is  phonetic,  and  it  is  often 


178 


THE   SERVICE  OF  LOGAN 

almost    impossible   to    determine    the    short 
vowels. 

In  the  spring  of  1828  there  gathered  in 
formally  at  the  site  of  Logansport  a  little 
knot  of  early  settlers,  and  others  interested, 
to  select  a  name  for  the  new  town  which  had 
just  been  surveyed.  General  Tipton,  who 
admired  classic  titles,  proposed  an  alleged 
Latin  compound,  said  to  mean  "Mouth  of 
the  Eel/'  which  was  the  name  commonly 
given  to  the  place  at  that  time  by  the  whites. 
Another  proposed  Ke-na-pe-com-a-qua — the 
common  form  of  the  Miami  name  of  Eel 
River  and  of  their  old  town  at  the  mouth  of 
that  stream.  It  is  properly  Ke'-na-pe'-kwo- 
ma'-kwa,  i.  e.,  Eel,  or  literally,  snake-fish,  or 
snake  water-animal.  Others  proposed  va 
rious  names,  and  finally  Hugh  B.  McKeen, 
a  son-in-law  of  Barron,  the  Indian  inter 
preter,  who  had  formerly  been  in  the  Indian 
trade  at  Ft.  Wayne,  proposed  the  name  of 
Logan,  in  commemoration  of  this  friend  of 
the  whites.  The  suggestion  pleased  Colonel 
Duret,  who  proposed  that  "port"  be  added 
to  round  it  out,  and  by  common  consent  the 
name  was  adopted.  And  so  there  was  given 
a  monument  more  lasting  than  stone  or 

170 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

bronze  to  this  Indian  soldier  who  died  for 
the  people  against  whom  he  had  fought  as 
a  child. 


180 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  WALAM   OLUM. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  most 
valuable  pictographic  record  of  the  Indians 
of  the  United  States  was  obtained  in  Indi 
ana,  from  the  Delaware  Indians,  who  lived 
on  White  River.  The  Indians  have  three 
forms  of  language — the  spoken,  the  sign 
language  and  the  pictographic,  the  last 
named  being  their  nearest  approach  to  a 
written  language. 

The  second  and  third  differ  from  the  first 
in  that  it  is  in  words,  like  our  own  language, 
while  in  them  the  signs,  whether  made  by 
the  hands,  arms  or  head,  or  inscribed  on 
some  material,  are  ideographic.  They  are 
also  universal,  because  they  are  "natural" 
signs  of  ideas,  and  for  this  reason,  although 
the  illustrations  given  herewith  may  seem 
unintelligible  to  us  who  are  not  familiar  with 
idea  signs,  the  Indians  of  different  tribes, 
having  totally  different  spoken  languages, 

181 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

communicate  readily  with  one  another  by 
the  sign  language,  and  also  with  the  deaf 
and  dumb.  This  has  been  fully  demon 
strated  by  the  experiments  of  Professor  Gal- 
laudet  and  others.  Of  course,  in  the  latter 
they  do  not  use  the  common  mode  of  the 
deaf  and  dumb,  of  spelling  out  words  with 
letters,  but  use  the  general  idea  signs  which 
the  deaf  and  dumb  all  use  to  some  extent. 
Indeed,  we  all  use  them  to  some  extent,  as 
in  shaking  or  nodding  the  head. 

In  summer,  any  boy  knows  what  another 
boy  means  when  he  holds  up  a  hand  with 
the  first  and  second  fingers  extended  like  a 
V.  That  is  the  natural  sign  for  a  valley,  and 
the  contracted  sign  for  a  stream.  The  In 
dians  complete  it  in  the  latter  sense  by  bring 
ing  a  finger  tip  of  the  other  hand  to  the 
crotch  of  the  V,  and  moving  it  away  in  a 
wavy  line,  indicating  the  flow  of  a  stream 
through  its  channel.  From  this  comes  the 
common  boy's  sign  for  going  swimming. 

The  name  of  this  Delaware  record 
"Walam  Olum"  indicates  the  character  of 
the  record.  In  the  Delaware  language, 
"walam"  means  paint,  and  "olum"  means 
a  record  stick,  on  which  the  record  usually 

182 


X 

— 

p 


X 

o 

> 

o 
w 


PL  §      t^ts^^^ 

e  rf*   ~  <<T  <5r  ~    «    C*       X 

5  ^   *S     ..   ^     ?  5 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

was  made  by  notches.  Hence,  the  name 
means  the  painted  stick  record,  or,  as  it  has 
sometimes  been  translated,  'Tainted  Rec 
ords,"  or  'Tainted  Sticks,"  or,  as  Professor 
Brinton  suggests,  "The  Red  Score,"  because 
walam  is  sometimes  used  specially  for  red 
paint,  or  vermilion. 

For  the  preservation  of  these  picto- 
graphs,  the  world  is  indebted  to  the  cele 
brated  Rafinesque  (Constantine  Samuel  Ra- 
finesque-Schmaltz),  whose  name  is  some 
what  familiar  in  Indiana,  because  he  was 
one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the  charac 
ters  attracted  to  New  Harmony.  He  was 
of  French-German  parentage,  but  was  born 
in  Turkey,  in  1784.  He  was  in  the  United 
States  from  1802  to  1805,  and  returned  in 
1815,  living  here  till  his  death  in  1842.  He 
was  an  all-round  scientist,  who  published  a 
large  amount  of  matter,  but  was  discredited 
by  contemporary  scientists,  who  doubted  his 
remarkable  discoveries,  and  it  is  only  in  re 
cent  years  that  the  real  value  of  his  work 
has  been  recognized.  And  this  is  what  hap 
pened  as  to  the  Walam  Olum,  for  it  was 
not  until  after  his  death  that  it  was  given 
to  the  public. 

184 


THE  WALAM  OLUM 

Rafinesque  says  that  the  original  record 
was  obtained  from  the  Delaware  Indians  on 
White  River  by  Dr.  Ward,  presumably  a 
Kentucky  physician  of  that  name  with  whom 
he  was  on  terms  of  friendship  while  pro 
fessor  of  history  and  natural  sciences  at 
Transylvania  University  from  1819  to  1826. 
It  was  given  to  Dr.  Ward  in  1820  for  im 
portant  medical  services,  and  in  1822  he 
obtained  the  Delaware  text  or  translation 
of  the  pictographs.  The  English  translation 
was  obtained  some  years  later  by  Rafinesque 
himself,  by  the  aid  of  John  Burns,  an  inter 
preter. 

After  Rafinesque's  death  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Brantz  Mayer,  of  Baltimore, 
and  later  to  E.  G.  Squier,  the  distinguished 
archaeologist.  In  1848  Squier  read  a  paper 
on  the  record  before  the  New  York  Histor 
ical  Society,  which  was  published  in  the 
American  Review  for  February,  1849,  and 
has  since  been  reproduced  in  Beach's  "In 
dian  Miscellany,"  and  in  Drake's  "Aborigi 
nal  Races  of  North  America."  A  complete 
reproduction  of  the  pictographs  and  trans 
lations  will  be  found  in  Brinton's  "The 
Lenape  and  Their  Legends." 

185 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

The  record  begins  with  an  account  of  the 
creation  of  the  world,  which  is  followed  by 
an  account  of  the  deluge,  and  this  by  the 
story  of  the  Delaware  nation  and  its  various 
chiefs.  The  opening  words  are  as  follows: 

1.  At  first,  in  that  place,  at  all  times, 
above  the  earth. 

2.  On  the  earth  was  an  extended  fog, 
and  there  the  great  Manito  was. 

3.  At  first,  forever,  lost  in  space,  every 
where,  the  great  Manito  was. 

4.  He  made  the  extended  land  and  the 
sky. 

5.  He  made  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars. 

6.  He  made  them  all  to  move  evenly. 

7.  Then  the  wind  blew  violently,  and  it 
cleared,  and  the  water  flowed  off  far  and 
strong. 

8.  And  groups  of  islands  grew  newly, 
and  there  remained. 

This  is  so  similar  to  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  that  one  might  naturally  suppose  it 
the  source  of  the  ideas,  but  archaeologists 
agree  that  the  Walam  Olum  is  an  entirely 
independent  and  original  record.  Its  lan 
guage  is  not  "missionary  Delaware,"  but  of 
an  earlier  character;  and  the  line  of 

186 


THE  WALAIH  OLUM 

thought  quickly  leaves  the  Bible  line.  The 
great  Manito  (Kitanito)  made  only  the 
things  that  were  good  for  mankind;  and 
then  came  an  evil  Manito — Maskanako,  the 
great  serpent — who  made  all  the  bad  things, 
mosquitoes,  gnats  and  flies;  he  brought 
quarreling  and  unhappiness,  and  bad  weath 
er,  and  sickness  and  death;  and  then,  to  cap 
the  climax,  he  brought  a  great  flood  to 
drown  man  and  the  other  animals.  But  his 
evil  design  was  thwarted  by  Nanabush,  an 
Algonquian  deity  who  wras  a  sort  of  patron 
saint  of  men,  who  created  the  great  turtle 
and  gathered  man  and  the  animals  on  its 
back,  with  the  aid  of  the  Manito  daughter 
(Manito-dasin)  until  the  deluge  subsided, 
as  recounted  in  the  accompanying  extract. 
The  picture  record  brings  the  history  down 
to  the  discovery  of  America  and  ends  with 
these  words : 

"At  this  time,  from  north,  and  south,  the 
whites  came. 

"They  are  peaceful,  they  have  great 
things;  who  are  they?" 

But  there  is  another  chapter  of  the  Dela 
ware  text,  bringing  the  story  down  to  the 
removal  of  the  Delawares  from  Indiana,  in 

187 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

1820,  written  by  one  of  the  Indiana  Dela- 
wares,  and  as  one  of  the  earliest  known  pro 
ductions  of  an  Indiana  author  is  of  special 
note.  It  is  as  follows: 

SONG    VI THE    MODERN    CHRONICLE. 

1.  Alas,  alas!     We  now  know  who  they 
are,    these    Wapsinis    (East    people), 
who  came  out  of  the  sea  to  rob  us  of 
our   lands.      Starving   wretches !   they 
came    with,  smiles,    but    soon    became 
snakes  (or  enemies). 

2.  The  Walumolum  was   made  by   Lek- 
hibit  (The  Writer)  to  record  our  glory. 
Shall   I   write   another   to   record  our 
fall?     No!     Our  foes  have  taken  care 
to   do   that;   but     I   speak   what   they 
know  not  or  conceal. 

3.  We  have  had  many  other  chiefs  since 
that  unhappy  time.     There  were  three 
before  the  friendly  Mikwon    (Miquon 
or    Penn)    came.      Mattanikum    (Not 
Strong)*  was  chief  when  the  Winakoli 
(Swedes)  came  to  Winaki;  Nahumen 
(Raccoon)  when  the  Sinai wi  (Dutch) 
came,  and  Ikwahon  (Fond-of -Women) 

*Note  by  Raflnesque:  "Mattanikum  was  chief  in  1645.  He  is 
called  Matta-horn  by  Holm,  who,  by  a  blunder,  has  n  ade  his  name 
half  Swedish.  Horn  is  not  L^napi.  Mattanikum  means  Not-horned, 
without  horns,  emblem  of  having  little  strength," 

188 


THE  WALAM  OLUM 

when  the  Yankwis  (English)  came. 
Miquon  (Penn)  and  his  friends  came 
soon  after. 

4.  They  were  all  received  and  fed  with 
corn;   but   no   land   was   ever   sold   to 
them;  we  never  sold  any  land.      They 
were  allowed  to  dwell  with  us,  to  build 
houses  and  plant  corn,  as  friends  and 
allies.     Because  they  were  hungry  and 
we  thought  them  children  of  Gishaki 
(or  sun  land),  and  not  serpents  and 
children  of  serpents. 

5.  And  they  were  traders,  bringing  fine 
new    tools,    and   weapons,    and    cloth, 
and  beads,   for  which  we  gave  them 
skins  and  shells  and  corn.     And  we 
liked  them  and  the  things  they  brought, 
for  we  thought  them  good  and  made 
by  the  children  of  Gishaki. 

6.  But  they  brought  also  fire-guns,  and 
fire-waters,   which  burned   and  killed, 
also  baubles   and  trinkets   of  no  use, 
for  we  had  better  ones  before. 

7.  After  Mikwon,  came  the  sons  of  Do- 
lojo-Sakima  (King  George),  who  said 
more  land,  more  land  we  must  have, 
and  no  limit  could  be  put  to  their  steps. 

189 


Pictographs. 


Delaware. 


11.  Amanganek     makdopannek 

alendyuwek  metzipannek. 

12.  Manito-dasin    mokol-wichc- 

map, 

Palpal  pay  at  pay  at  wemiche- 
map. 


13.  Nanaboush   Nanaboush  we- 

miniokom, 

Winimokom  linnimokom  tu- 
lamokom. 


14.  Linapi-ma  tulapi-ma  tulape- 
wi  tapitawi. 


15.  Wishanem  tulpewi  pataman 

tulpewi  poniton  wuliton. 

16.  Kshipehelen  penkwihilen, 
Kwamipokho  sitwalikho, 
Maskan  wagan   palliwi  pal- 

liwi 

SAMPLE.  PAGE 


190 


English. 

II.  There  were  many  monster  fishes,  which  ate  some  of 
them. 


12.  The  Manito  daughter,  coming,  helped  with  her  canoe, 
helped  all,  as  they  came  and  came. 


13.  [And  also]  Nanabush,  Nanabush,  the  grandfather  of 

all,  the  grandfather  of  beings,  the  grandfather  of 
men,  the  grandfather  of  the  turtle. 

14.  The  men  then  were  together  on  the  turtle,  like  to 

turtles. 


15.  Frightened  on  the  turtle,  they  prayed  on  the  turtle 
that  what  was  spoiled  should  be  restored. 


16.  The  water  ran  off",  the  earth  dried,  the  lakes  were  at 
rest,  all  was  silent,  and  the  mighty  snake  departed. 


OF  THE  WALAM  OLUM. 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

8.  But  in  the  north  were  the  children  of 
Lowi-Sakima  (King  Louis),  who  were 
our     good    friends,     friends    of    our 
friends,    foes    of    our    foes,    yet    with 
Dolojo  wished  always  to  war. 

9.  We   had   three   chiefs    after    Mikwon 
came — Skalich,  who  was  another  Ta- 
menend,      and      Sasunam-Wikwikhon 
(Our-uncle-the-builder),    and    Tutami 
(Beaver-taker),  who  was  killed  by  a 
Yankwako  (English  snake),  and  then 
we  vowed  revenge. 

10.  Netatawis    (First-new-being)    became 
chief  of  all  the  nations   in  the  west. 
Again  at  Talligewink  (Ohio,  or  place 
of  Tallegwi)  on  the  River  Cuyahoga, 
near  our  old  friends,  the  Talamatans. 
And  he  called  t>n  all  them  of  the  east 
(to  go  to  war). 

11.  But  Tadeskung  was  chief  in  the  east 
at    Mahoning,    and    was    bribed    by 
Yankwis;   then   he   was   burnt   in   his 
cabin,  and  many  of  our  people  were 
killed   at   Hickory  (Lancaster)  by  the 
land-robber  Yankwis. 

12.  Then  we  joined  Lowi  in  war  against 
the  Yankwis;  but  they  were  strong, 

IQ2 


THE  WALAM  OLUM 

and  they  took  Lowanaki  (North-land, 
Canada)  from  Lowi,  and  came  to  us 
in  Talegawink,  when  peace  was  made, 
and  we  called  them  Kichikani  (Big 
knives). 

13.  Then  Alimi    (White  eyes)    and  Gele- 
lenund  (Buck-killer)  were  chiefs,  and 
all  the  nations  near  us  were  friends, 
and  our  grandchildren  again. 

14.  When  the  Eastern  fires  began  to  re 
sist   Dolojo,   they   said   we   should  be 
another  fire  with  them.    But  they  killed 
our    chief   Unamiwi  (the  Turtle)  and 
our  brothers  on  the  Muskingum.   Then 
Hopokan    (Strong-pipe)    of  the  Wolf 
tribe   was   made  chief,   and  he   made 
war    on    the    Kichikani- Yankwis,  and 
became  the  friend  of  Dolojo,  who  was 
then  very  strong. 

15.  But  the  Eastern  fires  were  stronger; 
they  did  not  take   Lowinaki,   but  be 
came  free  from  Dolojo.  We  went  to 
Wapahani  (White  River)  to  be  farther 
from    them;    but     they     followed    us 
everywhere,  and  we  made  war  on  them, 
till  they  sent  Makhiakho  (Black-snake, 


193 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

General    Wayne),    who    made    strong 
war. 

16.  We  next  made  peace  and  settled  lim 
its,  and  our   chief  was   Hackingpous- 
kan    (Hard-walker),    who    was    good 
and  peaceful.     He  would  not  join  our 
brothers,  the  Shawanis  and  Ottawas, 
and  Dolojo  in  the  next  war. 

17.  Yet   after   the   last   peace,   the   Kichi- 
kani-Yankwis     came     in     swarms     all 
around  us,  and  they  desired  also  our 
lands  of  Wapahani.     It  was  useless  to 
resist,     because     they     were     getting 
stronger  and  stronger  by  joining  fires. 

18.  Kithtilkand    and    Lapanibit    were    the 
chiefs    of    our    two    tribes    when    we 
resolved  to  exchange  our  lands,  and  re 
turn  at  last  beyond  the  Masispek  (Mis 
sissippi  River),   near  to  our  old  coun 
try. 

19.  We  shall  be  near  our  foes  the  Wakon 
(Osages),  but  they  are  not  worse  than 
the    Yankwisakon    (English    snakes), 
who  want  to  possess  the  whole  Big- 
island. 

20.  Shall  we  be  free  and  happy,  then,  at 


194 


THE  WALAM  OLUM 

the  new  Wapahani?     We  want   rest 

and  peace,  and  wisdom. 
A  little  explanation  may  make  this  more 
intelligible.  In  the  ninth  verse,  "Tame- 
nend"  means  affable  or  agreeable — literally 
beaver-like.  The  reference  is  to  the  cele 
brated  chief  who  was  the  original  of  St. 
Tammany.  In  the  tenth  verse  "Taligewi" 
should  perhaps  be  Alligewi,  though  Brinton 
thinks  that  the  Talega  were  Cherokees.  The 
Talamatans  were  Hurons  or  Wyandots, 
otherwise  known  as  Delemattenos.  In  verse 
11,  "Mahoning"  is  the  Delaware  word  for 
deer-lick.  In  verse  13,  "Alimi"  is  evidently 
an  error,  as  it  was  the  name  of  George 
White  Eyes,  a  descendant  of  the  original 
Captain  White  Eyes,  of  the  Revolutionary 
period.  The  latter's  name  was  "Koguetha- 
gechton,"  which  means  "large  white  space 
showing  in  the  eyes."  In  verse  16,  the 
name  "Hackingpouskan,"  according  to 
Heckewelder,  should  be  Hackink  Pomskan, 
and  means  "to  walk  on  the  ground."  He 
was  the  chief  who  was  charged  with  witch 
craft  by  The  Prophet,  but  defied  him,  and 
escaped  unharmed.  In  verse  18,  "Kithtil- 
kand"  is  William  Anderson,  and  "Lapani- 

195 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

bit"  is  the  chief  whose  name  is  attached  to 
the  treaty  'of  1818  as  "Lahpanihle,  or  Big 
Bear/' 

The  extract  gives  a  forcible  presentation 
of  the  sad  feelings  with  which  the  Dela- 
wares  left  their  homes  in  Indiana,  and  their 
forebodings  as  to  their  new  home  in  the 
West.  They  were  not  destined  to  find  "rest 
and  peace."  They  located  first  in  Kansas 
and  remained  there  until  1867,  when  the 
neighboring  whites  became  so  annoying 
that  they  sold  their  lands,  and,  with  the  con 
sent  of  the  Government,  bought  lands  in  the 
Cherokee  country  in  Indian  Territory.  Here 
they  did  well  until  the  Dawes  commission 
apportioned  the  Cherokee  lands  in  severalty, 
and,  with  the  inscrutable  intelligence  that 
occasionally  invades  Indian  affairs,  made 
no  provision  for  the  Delawares,  who  had 
bought  their  lands  of  the  Cherokees,  with 
the  consent  and  approval  of  the  Government. 
Now,  the  remnant  are  begging  Congress, 
and  have  been  for  several  years,  to  do  the 
simple  justice  of  giving  them  what  rightful 
ly  belongs  to  them  according  to  our  own 
laws  and  in  conformity  with  every  dictate  of 
honesty  and  decency. 

196 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  THE  FALLS. 

The  principal  tributary  of  White  River  in 
central  Indiana  is  Fall  Creek.  The  name  of 
this  stream  is  a  translation  of  the  Delaware 
name,  which  Chamberlain  gives  as  "Soo- 
sooc-pa-ha-loc,"  saying  that  it  means  "Spilt 
Water."  His  translation  is  rather  fanciful. 
Sok-pe-hel-lak,  or  sook-pe-hel-luk,  is  the 
Delaware  word  for  waterfall,  but  the  word 
for  water  does  not  enter  into  its  composition. 
The  stem  "sok"  (sook,  sog,  sohk)  enters  in 
to  the  verb  "to  spill,"  but  also  into  the  verbs 
"to  rain"  and  "to  pour;"  and  its  primary 
sense  is  the  idea  of  emitting  or  pouring 
forth.  Pehellak  carries  the  idea  of  "swift 
ness,"  "rushing,"  "tumultuousness."  The 
name  refers  to  the  falls  at  Pendleton,  which 
were  formerly  about  eight  feet  in  hight.  In 
1864  a  milldam  was  made  on  the  rock  ledge, 
immediately  above  the  fall,  making  an  im 
pressive  double  fall  of  it;  but  this  has  been 

197 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

removed  and  the  rock  ledge  has  been  par 
tially  cut  to  drain  lands  above,  and  the  fall 
is  now  not  very  striking  in  appearance. 

The  Miami  name  of  the  stream  is  Chank'- 
tun-oon'-gi,  or  "Makes-a-Noise  Place,"  and 
the  unusual  occurrence  of  a  place  name  for 
a  stream  is  due  to  the  reference  to  these 
same  falls.  The  site  of  Indianapolis,  being 
at  the  mouth  of  Fall  Creek,  was  also  called 
Chank'-tun-oon'-gi  by  the  Miamis,  and  the 
name  is  also  sometimes  given  to  Indianapo 
lis.  The  falls  were  noted  among  the  Indians 
on  their  own  account;  and  in  the  period  of 
white  settlement  the  place  has  become  nota 
ble  for  two  events  that  occurred  there — the 
mobbing  of  Frederick  Douglass,  in  the  days 
of  slavery  agitation,  and  the  conviction  and 
execution  of  certain  white  men  for  the  mur 
der  of  a  party  of  Indians. 

After  the  Delawares  moved  west  from  In 
diana,  their  villages  on  White  River  were 
partially  occupied  for  several  years  by  In 
dians  from  the  northern  part  of  the  State, 
and  their  lands  were  common  hunting 
grounds  until  the  progress  of  settlement 
drove  out  the  game.  In  the  spring  of  1824 
a  small  party  of  Indians  camped  on  the 

198 


THE  TRAGEDY   OF  THE  FALLS 

headwaters  of  Lick  Creek,  some  eight  miles 
east  of  the  falls,  and  about  a  mile  northeast 
of  the  present  village  of  Markleville.  There 
were  two  men  in  the  party,  one  a  Shawnee 
known  as  Ludlow,  and  the  other  a  Miami, 
who  went  by  the  name  of  Logan.  With 
them  were  three  women,  two  boys  about  ten 
years  of  age,  and  two  girls  who  were  young 
er.  The  men  were  engaged  in  hunting  and 
trapping,  and  the  whole  party  was  quiet  and 
inoffensive.  But  they  had  been  very  suc 
cessful  in  their  hunting,  and  had  a  large 
quantity  of  furs,  in  addition  to  a  good  supply 
of  kettles  and  utensils  for  making  maple 
sugar;  and  their  property  excited  the  greed 
of  a  white  man  named  Harper,  living  in  the 
vicinity.  He  was  a  frontiersman  of  the 
reckless  class,  who  often  boasted  of  the  num 
ber  of  Indians  he  had  killed,  and  openly 
maintained  that  it  was  no  worse  to  kill  an 
Indian  than  to  kill  a  wild  animal.  He  se 
cured  the  alliance  of  James  Hudson,  another 
trapper  of  somewhat  better  character,  and 
these  two  took  into  their  plot  Andrew  Saw 
yer  and  John  T.  Bridge,  brothers-in-law, 
two  settlers  who  were  clearing  farms  near 
by. 

IQ9 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

On  Monday,  March  22,  these  four  men, 
accompanied  by  Bridge's  son  John,  a  strip 
ling  of  nineteen  years,  and  a  boy  named 
Andrew  Jones,  appeared  at  the  Indian  camp, 
professing  to  be  in  search  of  some  lost 
horses.  The  Indians  readily  consented  to 
aid  in  the  search,  and  Ludlow  started  in  one 
direction,  followed  by  Harper,  and  the  Mi 
ami  in  another,  followed  by  Hudson,  the 
rest  of  the  party  bringing  up  the  rear.  After 
going  a  short  distance  Harper  shot  Ludlow 
in  the  back,  instantly  killing  him.  At  the 
report  of  his  gun  Hudson  shot  the  Miami, 
Logan,  in  the  same  manner.  The  five  men 
then  returned  to  the  camp  and  opened  fire 
on  the  helpless  survivors.  Sawyer  and  each 
of  the  Bridges  shot  a  squaw,  and  Sawyer 
then  shot  the  oldest  boy,  but  did  not  kill  him. 
The  other  children  were  killed,  but  it  was 
not  definitely  learned  by  whom,  as  all  the 
party  were  shooting.  Seeing  that  the  boy 
he  had  shot  was  not  dead,  Sawyer  seized 
him  by  the  legs  and  dashed  his  brains  out 
on  a  log.  The  murderers  plundered  the 
camp  of  everything  of  value,  and  mutilated 
the  bodies  of  their  victims,  to  create  the  im- 


200 


THE   TRAGEDY   OF  THE   FALLS 

pression  that  they  had  been  killed  by  In 
dians. 

On  the  following  day  some  persons  on 
their  way  to  a  religious  meeting  in  the  neigh 
borhood  discovered  the  dead  bodies  and  the 
plundered  camp,  and  the  news  spread  rapid 
ly,  exciting  horror  and  alarm.  Whatever 
prejudice  may  have  existed  on  the  frontiers 
against  Indians,  there  was  never  any  sym 
pathy  with  robbery,  for  that  was  a  danger 
to  which  all  were  exposed.  For  ten  years 
there  had  been  no  Indian  troubles,  and 
everybody  knew  the  tendency  of  the  Indian 
to  revenge.  There  were  many  Indians  near 
at  hand  and  few  whites.  There  were  a  few 
houses  at  the  falls,  small  villages  at  Ander 
son  and  Indianapolis,  and  scattered  settlers 
between  these  points,  most  of  the  country 
being  covered  with  unbroken  forest.  Capt. 
John  Berry,  who  lived  at  Anderson,  started 
at  once  to  Piqua,  O.,  and  gave  notice  to  John 
Johnston,  the  Indian  agent  for  the  district, 
who  promptly  notified  the  authorities  at 
Washington.  The  Indian  Department  im 
mediately  offered  rewards  for  the  apprehen 
sion  and  conviction  of  the  murderers,  and 
under  its  instructions  Colonel  Johnston  and 

20 1 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

William  Conner  visited  the  Indians  and  as 
sured  them  that  the  Government  would  pun 
ish  the  murderers. 

But,  meanwhile,  the  settlers  had  been 
moving.  Parties  were  at  once  formed  to 
apprehend  the  murderers,  and  suspicion 
quickly  fell  on  the  guilty  parties.  Harper 
managed  to  escape,  but  within  a  week  the 
others  were  under  arrest  and  had  made  par 
tial  confession,  while  sufficient  evidence  had 
been  obtained  to  demonstrate  their  guilt.  A 
session  of  the  Circuit  Court  occurred  at  Pen- 
dleton  in  April,  and  on  the  9th  of  that  month 
the  four  prisoners  were  indicted  for  murder, 
but  on  account  of  the  illness  of  the  presiding 
judge  their  trials  were  set  for  the  October 
term.  Meanwhile  the  prisoners  were  con 
fined  in  the  new  jail,  a  structure  of  hewn 
logs  fitted  closely  together,  with  one  door 
and  no  windows,  and  surrounded  by  a  stock 
ade  of  heavy  posts  set  in  the  ground.  On 
July  20  the  prisoners  all  escaped,  but  they 
were  soon  recaptured,  and  after  that  they 
were  heavily  ironed  and  guarded  day  and 
night  by  a  specially  appointed  body  of  men 
paid  by  the  Indian  Department. 

At  that  time  the  circuit  courts  of  Indiana, 


202 


THE  TRAGEDY   OF  THE   FALLS 

were  composed  of  three  members,  a  presid 
ing  judge,  who  was  learned  in  the  law,  and 
two  associates  who  were  not,  and  whose 
function  was  presumably  to  temper  the  law 
with  common  sense.  The  presiding  judge 
was  William  W.  Wick,  a  young  man,  but  an 
excellent  lawyer,  who  afterward  became 
quite  prominent  in  the  State.  The  associate 
judges  were  Adam  Winsell,  the  village 
blacksmith,  and  Samuel  Holliday,  both  pio 
neers  of  excellent  character. 

The  members  of  the  bar  used  occasionally 
to  have  a  little  quiet  diversion  with  the  as 
sociate  judges,  and  on  October  7,  the  court 
having  been  opened  in  the  absence  of  the 
presiding  judge,  the  attorneys  for  the  de 
fendants  asked  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus, 
for  the  release  of  their  clients.  After  a 
somewhat  perplexing  argument,  Judge  Win- 
sell  disposed  of  the  matter  by  saying:  "It 
would  do  you  no  good  to  bring  out  the  pris 
oners.  I  ironed  them  myself,  and  you  will 
never  get  them  irons  off  until  they  are  tried, 
habeas  corpus  or  no  habeas  corpus.'7  On 
the  arrival  of  Judge  Wick  the  prisoners 
were  arraigned,  and  asked  for  separate 
trials,  and  on  the  next  morning  the  trial  of 

203 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

James  Hudson  began.  The  court  was  held 
in  the  cabin  of  William  McCartney,  there 
being  no  courthouse.  The  prosecutor  was 
Harvey  Gregg,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  early 
times,  and  the  Indian  Department  had  em 
ployed  to  assist  him  Gen.  James  Noble,  and 
his  son-in-law,  Philip  Sweetser,  both  able 
lawyers.  General  Noble  was  United  States 
Senator  from  Indiana  from  1816  to  his 
death,  in  1831,  and  was  considered  the 
strongest  jury  lawyer  of  the  Indiana  bar. 
The  defense  was  represented  by  William  R. 
Morris,  Calvin  Fletcher,  Bethuel  F.  Morris 
and  Martin  M.  Ray,  all  excellent  lawyers. 

The  jury  was  typical  of  the  frontier.  It 
was  noted  that  every  juryman  wore  mocca 
sins  and  carried  a  hunting  knife.  The  evi 
dence  was  brief,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  tes 
timony  of  the  boy,  Andrew  Jones.  The  facts 
were  practically  undisputed,  and  the  de 
fendants'  attorneys  devoted  most  of  the  day 
to  the  recital  of  Indian  atrocities  on  the 
frontier,  but  the  appeal  to  prejudice  was  of 
no  avail.  The  case  went  to  the  jury  that 
night,  and  in  the  morning  it  returned  a  ver 
dict  of  murder.  Hudson  was  called  up  for 
sentence,  and  Judge  Wick  delivered  an  im- 

204 


THE   TRAGEDY   OF  THE   FALLS 

pressive  address,  referring  to  the  atrocity  of 
the  crime,  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians,  the 
duties  of  the  whites  as  civilized  and  Chris 
tian  people.  He  said:  "I  feel  no  wish  un 
necessarily  to  harrow  up  your  feelings,  but  I 
must  ask  you  why  you  could  not  permit  Lo 
gan  to  revisit  his  former  home,  and  to  hunt 
in  his  native  forests  ?  How  could  you  have 
the  heart  to  make  war  upon,  shoot  and  de 
stroy  the  venerable  old  chief,  whose  name 
ought  to  have  been  his  passport  and  protec 
tion  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  and  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic?  The  blood  of 
a  Logan  has  a  second  time  gone  up  before 
heaven  crying  aloud  for  vengeance.  The 
blood  of  a  Logan  and  a  friend  of  the  white 
man  rests  upon  your  conscience,  and  has 
imprinted  a  stain  too  deep  to  be  washed  out 
but  by  the  blood  of  a  Redeemer." 

Hudson  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged  on 
December  1,  but  his  case  was  appealed  to 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  respite  was  grant 
ed  him  by  the  Governor  until  January  12. 
The  other  cases  went  over  to  the  spring  term 
of  1825.  The  Supreme  Court  evidently 
made  no  search  for  technicalities  on  which 
to  reverse  the  case.  It  easily  disposed  of 

205 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

such  objections  as  that  the  grand  jury  had 
been  chosen  by  the  clerk  instead  of  the  Coun 
ty  Commissioners,  and  that  the  clerk  had  in 
tentionally  included  men  not  qualified  to 
serve  as  trial  jurors.  It  hesitated  a  little 
over  the  fact  that  the  defense  had  not  been 
allowed  to  ask  the  jurors  whether  they  be 
lieved  that  a  conviction  was  necessary  for 
the  protection  of  themselves  and  their  fam 
ilies  from  the  Indians;  but  decided  that,  al 
though  such  a  belief  would  disqualify  a 
juror,  the  juror  could  not  be  asked  "to  testi 
fy  to  his  own  depravity." 

On  the  night  of  November  13 — the  same 
day  on  which  the  Supreme  Court  made  its 
decision — Hudson  managed  to  escape  from 
the  jail,  and  was  assisted  over  the  stockade 
by  his  fellow-prisoners.  In  his  effort  to 
elude  the  pursuit  he  waded  Fall  Creek  where 
it  was  quite  deep,  and,  as  the  night  was  cold, 
he  became  so  chilled  by  his  wet  clothing  that 
he  was  unable  to  go  on.  He  crawled  into 
a  hollow  log  for  shelter,  but  his  feet  were 
exposed  and  were  so  badly  frozen  that  he 
could  not  walk.  Here  he  was  found,  com 
pletely  helpless,  and  taken  back  to  jail.  On 
January  12  the  sentence  was  executed.  The 

206 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

scaffold  was  erected  at  the  edge  of  the  bot 
tomland  north  of  the  jail.    The  neighboring 
hillside  was   covered  with   spectators   from 
all  the  country  round,  including  several  In 
dians,  who  had  come  to  see  if  punishment 
would  actually  be  made.     Hudson  had  to  be 
helped  to  the  scaffold,  being  in  such  pitiable 
condition  as  excited  the  sympathy  of  those 
who  saw  him.     He  made  full  confession  be 
fore  his  death.    This,  it  is  said,  \vas  the  first 
instance  of  a  white  man  being  executed  for 
the   murder    of    an    Indian    in    the    United 
States.    Certainly  it  was  the  first  case  in  this 
region.     Men  were  arrested  and  tried  re 
peatedly  in  territorial  times  for  murdering 
Indians,  but  the  juries   always   refused  to 
convict,  although  by  treaty  we  were  bound 
to  punish  such  offenders.     Governor  Harri 
son  complained  of  this  repeatedly  in  letters 
to  the  Government  and  in  messages  to  the 
Legislature.     It  was  the  more  shameful  be 
cause  the  Indians  either  surrendered  their 
offenders  or  punished  them.     In  1811,  hav 
ing  demanded  of  the  Delawares  the  surren 
der  of  an  Indian  charged  with  robbery,  Gov 
ernor    Harrison   wrote:      "They   said   they 
would  never  deliver  up  another  man  until 

208 


THE  TRAGEDY   OF  THE   FALLS 

some  of  the  white  persons  were  punished 
who  had  murdered  their  people.  They 
would,  however,  punish  him  themselves,  and 
did  put  him  to  death/' 

The  other  trials  came  on  in  the  spring  of 
1825.  The  circuit  had  been  changed,  and 
Miles  C.  Eggleston  was  the  presiding  judge, 
the  other  court  officials  being  the  same,  ex 
cept  that  Oliver  H.  Smith,  later  United 
States  Senator  from  Indiana,  was  the  pros 
ecuting  attorney.  The  Government  also 
added  to  the  prosecution  Messrs.  Polk, 
Finch  and  Veeder,  while  the  defense  was 
reinforced  by  James  Rariden  and  Lot 
Bloomfield,  both  talented  lawyers.  The  new 
courthouse  had  been  completed,  a  log  struc 
ture  of  two  rooms,  with  puncheon  floors,  and 
the  trials  were  held  in  it.  The  juries  were 
of  typical  frontiersmen,  as  before.  On  May 
10  Sawyer  was  tried  and  convicted  for  kill 
ing  one  of  the  squaws,  but  he  escaped  with  a 
verdict  of  manslaughter,  and  a  sentence  of 
two  years  in  the  penitentiary.  On  May  11 
young  Bridge  was  tried  and  convicted  of 
murder,  but  with  a  recommendation  to  the 
Governor  for  his  pardon,  on  account  of  his 
youth,  and  the  fact  that  he  had  been  led  into 

209 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

the  crime  by  the  older  men.    On  May  12  the 
elder  Bridge  was  convicted  of  murder.     On 
May  13  Sawyer  was  tried  for  killing  the  In 
dian  boy.       The  prosecution  dwelt  on  the 
atrocity  of  the  offense,  and  Mr.  Smith,  hold 
ing  the  bloody  shirt  of  the  lad  before  the 
jury,    urged    on    them    that,    although    the 
shooting  of  the  squaw  might  be  manslaugh 
ter,  the  brutal  killing  of  the  wounded  boy 
could  be  nothing  but  murder.     A  verdict  of 
murder  was  returned,  and  on  the  following 
morning  the  three  men  were  sentenced  to 
be  hanged  on  June  3.     It  was  a  pathetic 
scene  as  the  elder  Bridge,  gray  and  already 
bent  with  age,  stood  with  his  brother-in-law 
and  his  favorite  son  to  receive  the  sentence. 
They  were  haggard  from  their  long  confine 
ment,  and  dejected  by  the  certainty  of  their 
fate.     The  tears  ran  down  their  faces  and 
the  crowded  courtroom  was  filled  with  their 
groans  and  sighs.     Judge  Eggleston's  face 
was  pale  and  his  voice  quivered.     The  sol 
emn  conclusion  of  the  sentence,  "And  may 
God    have    mercy    on    your    souls,"    could 
scarcely  be  heard. 

On  June  3  the  sentence  was  executed  in 
the  presence  of  a  larger  assemblage  than 


2IO 


THE  TRAGEDY   OF  THE   FALLS 

before.  Again  there  were  a  number  of  In 
dians  in  attendance.  Sawyer  and  the  elder 
Bridge  were  brought  out  first  and  hanged 
from  the  same  scaffold  on  which  Hudson 
had  died.  But  there  was  an  added  horror. 
Sawyer  was  a  powerful  man  and  at  the  fatal 
moment,  by  a  desperate  effort,  he  broke  the 
cords  that  fastened  his  arms  and  clutched 
the  rope  above  his  head.  Then  ensued  an 
awful  struggle,  while  the  sheriff  and  his  as 
sistants  pulled  down  his  arms  and  refastened 
them.  When  both  men  were  dead  they  were 
cut  down  and  laid  in  their  coffins  and  young 
Bridge  was  helped  up  the  scaffold  by  the 
sheriff.  The  black  cap  was  pulled  down 
over  his  face.  Then  there  was  a  stir  in  the 
crowd  and  Governor  Ray  mounted  the  scaf 
fold  and  announced  the  pardon  of  the  youth, 
which  was  received  with  a  general  cheer. 
But  when  his  face  was  uncovered  his  blank 
stare  showed  that  executive  clemency  had 
come  too  late.  Reason  had  fled.*  The  ap 
proval  of  the  spectators  gave  way  to  regret 
that  the  pardon  had  been  delayed  so  long. 
Tradition  has  it  that  an  Indian  chief  present 
was  asked  if  they  were  satisfied  and  that  he 

•Bridges  subsequently  regained  his  reason  and  livec'  to  quite  a 
ripe  age. 


211 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

replied,  "Indian  want  no  more  white  man 
weighed." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  tragic 
events  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  fron 
tier,  where  they  were  the  chief  topics  of  con 
versation  for  many  days.  The  crime  was  so 
cold-blooded  and  unprovoked  that  it  aroused 
the  condemnation  of  almost  every  one. 
There  were  then  two  newspapers  published 
at  the  village  of  Indianapolis.  The  Indiana 
Gazette  denounced  it  as  "one  of  the  most 
outrageous  transactions  that  has  occurred 
since  the  settlement  of  the  State."  The 
Western  Censor  characterized  it  as  "murder 
scarcely  excelled  in  atrocity  by  the  savages 
themselves."  The  general  sentiment  was  no 
less  pronounced  and  even  the  respite  of  Hud 
son  was  openly  condemned,  in  the  popular 
demand  for  swift  and  full  punishment  for 
the  murderers.  The  sentiment  that  was 
awakened  was  wholesome  and  there  was 
very  little  occasion  for  complaint  of  lawless 
ness  during  the  remaining  years  in  which 
the  remnant  of  the  Indian  tribes  resided  in 
the  State. 


212 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING. 

Just  above  the  city  of  Peru,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Wabash,  the  Mississinewa  river 
empties.  Massissineway,  the  whites  used  to 
call  it,  and  that  is  nearer  the  Miami  name, 
which  is  Na-mah'-chis-sin'-wi.  The  In 
dians  translate  it  freely,  "Much  Fall  in  the 
River,"  but  literally  it  means  an  ascent,  or 
as  So-wil'-lin-jish'-yah  (The  Open  Hand) 
explained  it,  "a  slope  up,  but  not  as  much  as 
a  hill." 

The  name  is  appropriate,  for  it  is  a  fine, 
rapid  stream.  Its  valley  was  for  many  years 
a  favorite  home  of  the  Miamis.  Just  below 
its  mouth  was  a  large  Miami  town,  which 
the  whites  called  "the  Osage  town,"  because 
there  lived  here  an  Osage  Indian  who  was 
quite  prominent  among  the  Miamis.  His 
name  appears  in  treaties  as  "Osage,  the 
Neutral,"  but  the  Miamis  called  him  Wah- 
shah'-shie,  which  is  their  name  for  the  Osage 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

tribe.  Their  name  for  the  place  was  Ik'-ke- 
pis-sin'-noong,  or  the  Straight  Place,  be 
cause  the  Wabash  at  this  point  is  straight 
for  about  two  miles. 

Seventy  years  ago,  following  the  Indian 
trail  up  the  Mississinewa,  you  would  soon 
have  reached  the  home  and  trading-house  of 
Francois  Godfrey,  a  French  half-breed,  who 
was  the  last  war  chief  of  the  Miamis.  They 
called  him  P'lons'-wah,  or  more  broadly 
Pah-lons'-wah,  but  there  is  no  such  Miami 
word  as  this,  and,  indeed,  he  had  no 
Indian  name.  It  was  merely  their  effort  to 
pronounce  Francois,  for  they  have  no  sound 
of  "f"  or  "r"  in  their  language,  but  substi 
tute  a  "p"  for  the  former  and  an  "I"  for  the 
latter. 

Still  farther  up  you  would  pass  the  curious 
rock  cliffs,  where  the  river  has  cut  its  way 
deep  in  the  Niagara  limestone;  and  still 
higher,  some  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of 
the  stream,  where  the  hills  begin  to  come 
close  to  the  river,  you  would  come  to  the 
Deaf  Man's  Village.  It  was  not  much  of  a 
village — only  three  log  cabins,  one  of  them 
a  queer  two-story  affair — and  was  the  home 
of  a  Miami  chief  named  She-pah'-can-nah, 

214 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

or  The  Awl,  i.  e.,  the  instrument  with  which 
the  Indians  punched  holes  in  skins  when 
sewing  them  together.  In  his  later  life  he 
lost  his  hearing,  and  was  then  named  Ka- 
kip'-shah,  or  The  Deaf. 

To  this  village,  one  evening  in-  January, 
1835,  came  Col.  George  W.  Ewing,  an  In 
dian  trader  from  Logansport,  cold,  tired  and 
hungry.  He  was  hospitably  received  at  the 
principal  cabin  by  old  Muk-kons'-kwa  (Lit 
tle  Bear  Woman)  the  widow  of  She-pah'- 
can-nah,  who  was  an  old  acquaintance.  Aft 
er  a  hearty  supper  they  sat  by  the  cheerful 
open  fire  and  chatted  in  the  Miami  language. 
The  other  members  of  the  household 
dropped  off  to  bed  and  these  two  were  left 
alone.  The  conversation  became  broken. 
She  was  evidently  agitated.  He  rose  to 
retire,  but  she  said:  "No.  I  have  some 
thing  on  my  mind.  I  am  old  and  weak.  I 
shall  not  live  long,  and  I  must  tell  it.  I  can 
not  die  in  peace  if  I  do  not/' 

He  sat  down  again,  and  a  long  silence  fol 
lowed,  she  staring  at  the  fire,  and  he  strange 
ly  drawn  by  her  crown  of  reddish  auburn 
hair,  with  a  peculiar  light  brown  streak  at 
the  back  of  the  head — remarkable  hair  for 

216 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

an  Indian  woman.  Finally  he  suggested 
that  she  tell  her  story  at  some  other  time, 
but  she  answered:  "No,  no,  I  may  die;  I 
may  die;  and  then  I  will  have  no  peace  in 
the  spirit  world." 

Then  she  told  her  secret.  She  was  a  white 
woman  who  had  been  carried  away  from 
home  by  three  Delaware  Indians  when  a  lit 
tle  child.  She  could  not  tell  when,  but  it  was 
before  the  last  two  wars.  (The  war  of  1812 
and  Wayne's  war.)  She  had  lost  her  moth 
er  tongue,  and  had  forgotten  her  Christian 
name,  but  she  remembered  that  her  father's 
name  was  Slocum,  that  he  was  a  Quaker, 
and  that  he  lived  on  the  banks  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,  not  far  from  a  town  where  there  was 
a  fort.  She  thought  there  were  seven  other 
children,  six  older  than  herself,  but  they  must 
all  be  dead — she  was  so  old  herself.  The 
Indians  had  carried  her  far  away,  past  the 
great  falls  (Niagara)  and  on  to  the  Dela 
ware  towns  of  Ohio,  where  she  was  adopted 
as  a  child  by  a  Delaware  chief.  Her  foster 
parents  treated  her  very  kindly,  and  she 
grew  up  as  an  Indian.  Once,  when  travel 
ing  with  her  adopted  parents,  they  found  a 
wounded  Indian  lying  helpless  on  the 

217 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

ground.  It  was  the  Miami  war  chief  She- 
pah'-can-nah.  They  took  him  home  and 
nursed  him  to  health.  He  became  the  hus 
band  of  Frances,  and  he  was  a  good  hus 
band.  She  felt  that  she  must  tell  Mon'-kyot 
(Bald  Head,  the  name  given  by  the  Miamis 
to  Ewing),  but  he  must  not  tell  others;  her 
relatives  might  come  and  take  her  away 
from  her  home  and  her  children. 

The  old  woman  had  acquired  the  Indian's 
dread  of  the  white  man's  power,  and  it  was 
for  this  reason  that  she  had  guarded  her  se 
cret  so  long.  Ewing  assured  her  that  he 
would  protect  her,  and  when  she  had  fin 
ished  her  story  she  said:  "There,  now,  I 
can  die.  Oh,  you  don't  know  how  this  has 
troubled  me.  Something  all  the  time  whis 
pered  in  my  ear,  you  must  do  it — you  must 
do  it;  and  now  it  is  done.  The  great  load 
I  have  carried  over  fifty  years  is  off  my 
shoulders.  I  am  a  free  woman." 

In  the  morning,  having  convinced  the  old 
woman  that  she  would  not  be  carried  away 
against  her  will,  Colonel  Ewing  resumed 
his  way,  determined  on  an  effort  to  find  her 
relatives.  He  had  no  clew  to  their  location 
beyond  the  fact  that  they  had  lived  near  the 

218 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

Susquehanna,  and  at  a  venture  he  wrote  to 
the  postmaster  of  Lancaster,  Pa.,  reciting 
the  facts  as  he  had  them,  and  suggesting  in 
quiry  through  the  newspapers  for  a  family 
named  Slocum,  from  whom  a  child  had  heen 
stolen  hy  the  Indians  about  the  time  of  the 
Revolutionary  war.  The  postmaster  was 
proprietor  of  the  Lancaster  Intelligencer,  but 
for  some  reason  did  not  publish  the  letter.  It 
lay  in  the  office  for  two  years,  when  a  new 
editor  came  in  the  person  of  John  W.  Forney, 
afterward  well  known  to  the  whole  country. 
He  at  once  published  the  letter,  and  luckily  it 
appeared  in  a  special  edition  containing 
some  temperance  documents  that  was  mailed 
widely  to  clergymen.  A  copy  came  to  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Bowman,  an  Episcopalian  min 
ister,  who  had  been  stationed  at  Wilkes- 
Barre  when  young,  and  was  familiar  with 
the  pathetic  Slocum  history.  He  at  once  for 
warded  the  paper  to  surviving  members  of 
the  family,  and  it  came  to  them  as  a  voice 
from  the  dead. 

And  well  it  might.    It  was  in  the  summer 
of    1777   that  Jonathan   Slocum   had   come 
from  Rhode  Island  with  his  family,  includ 
ing  his  father-in-law,  Isaac  Tripp,  and  set- 
sip 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

tied  in  the  beautiful  Wyoming  valley,  at  the 
site  of  Wilkes-Barre.  They  were  Quakers, 
and  by  kindly  treatment  won  the  friendship 
of  the  Indians  who  came  about  them.  They 
escaped  injury  in  the  fearful  massacre  of 
July,  1778,  and  were  so  confident  of  their 
safety  that  they  remained  in  their  home  after 
most  of  the  settlers  had  abandoned  the  val 
ley  or  gathered  in  forts.  But  their  confi 
dence  was  not  well  founded. 

On  November  2,  1778,  three  Delaware  In 
dians  approached  the  house.  The  men  were 
away,  but  two  neighbor  boys  were  near  the 
door  grinding  a  knife.  The  elder  boy,  who 
wore  a  soldier's  coat,  was  at  once  shot  by 
one  of  the  Indians.  Mrs.  Slocum  and  most 
of  the  children  fled  to  the  woods.  Frances, 
a  girl  of  five  years,  and  a  lame  brother  took 
refuge  beneath  the  staircase  in  the  house. 
The  Indians  went  through  the  house  and 
took  a  few  things  that  attracted  their  desires. 
Then,  noticing  the  children  beneath  the 
stairs,  they  pulled  them  out  and  started  away 
with  them.  At  this  the  mother's  love  over 
came  her  fear,  and,  leaving  the  underbrush, 
where  she  had  been  concealed,  she  ran  for 
ward  to  plead  for  her  children.  When  she 

220 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

pointed  to  the  lame  boy's  feet  the  Indians 
abandoned  him,  but  one  of  them  swung 
Frances  to  his  shoulder,  and  they  all  started 
on  a  run  to  the  forest.  To  the  tears  and 
beseechings  of  the  agonized  mother  they 
returned  no  answer  but  savage  laughter. 
The  forest  closed  behind  them,  the  child 
looking  back  over  the  Indian's  shoulder,  with 
tears  streaming  down  her  face,  as  she 
screamed,  "Mamma!  Mamma!" 

The  alarm  was  given  at  the  fort,  and  a 
pursuing  party  went  out,  but  without  suc 
cess.  The  child  was  gone;  and  she  had  left 
indelibly  printed  on  her  mother's  mind  that 
last  picture  of  her  tear-stained  face,  and 
ringing  in  her  ears  those  cries  for  help.  And 
there  was  another  source  of  anguish — one  of 
those  little  things  that  sometimes  wring  the 
soul.  Frances  had  a  new  pair  of  shoes,  and 
in  the  usual  economy  of  the  frontier  at  the 
time  she  had  been  kept  barefoot  about  the 
house  until  cold  weather  should  come.  Now 
the  shoes  stood  useless,  while  the  little  feet 
were  exposed  to  the  stones  and  the  thorns, 
and  winter  was  coming  on.  Again  and 
again  she  moaned:  "Oh,  if  the  poor  little 
creature  only  had  her  shoes!"  If  she  could 

221 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

but  have  known  it,  Frances  was  quickly  sup 
plied  with  comfortable  moccasins,  and  with 
native  dress  that  appealed  to  her  childish 
vanity  as  well  as  her  sense  of  comfort.  In 
dians  are  indulgent  to  their  children,  and  an 
adopted  child  is  usually  favored  as  much  as 
their  own.  But  the  mother  could  not  know, 
and  to  her  came  only  the  haunting  face,  the 
cry  of  "Mamma!  Mamma!"  and  the  imagi 
nation  of  hardships  of  every  kind ;  but  worst 
of  all  those  poor,  bruised  feet,  with  no  one  to 
care  for  them. 

The  days  dragged  by  wearily,  but  her  cup 
of  sorrow  was  not  yet  full.  But  six  weeks 
had  passed  when  both  her  husband  and  her 
father  were  killed  by  Indians  while  working 
in  a  field  near  the  fort,  and  she  was  left  to 
suffer  alone.  Imagination  shrinks  from  the 
contemplation  of  her  woe,  but  in  it  all  the 
fate  of  Frances  weighed  most  heavily.  As 
to  the  others  the  loss  was  hers,  for  to  her 
faith  they  were  in  a  better  and  happier  life, 
but  where  was  the  child?  There  was  no 
peril,  no  hardship  that  her  mind  did  not  con 
jure  up,  for  to  her  Frances  was  always  alive 
—alive  and  suffering.  She  must  be  found 
and  rescued. 


222 


— 
EJ. 

5' 

7: 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

It  was  impossible  to  do  much  while  the 
war  continued,  but  in  1784,  as  soon  as  hostil 
ities  ceased,  two  of  the  older  sons  pushed 
forward  to  Niagara  and  made  inquiry  in 
every  direction  for  their  sister.  They 
offered  a  reward  of  100  guineas  for  her  re 
turn,  but  if  the  Indians  knew  where  she  was, 
they  would  not  tell.  In  1787  they  made  an 
other  journey  into  Ohio,  whither  the  tide  of 
settlement  had  turned,  enlisting  the  sympa 
thy  and  aid  of  Indian  agents  and  traders, 
and  offering  a  reward  of  $500  for  their  sis 
ter's  return,  but  after  several  months  of 
fruitless  search  they  turned  back  baffled  and 
disheartened.  In  1789,  there  was  a  large 
gathering  of  Indians  at  Tioga  Point  (Ath 
ens,  Pa.),  to  surrender  captives  whose  re 
turn  had  been  demanded  by  the  Government. 
There  the  aged  mother  went  also,  braving 
the  hardships  of  the  long  journey  through 
the  wilderness,  that  a  mother's  instinct 
might  not  be  wanting  to  know  the  child  if 
she  should  be  there.  But  she  was  not  among 
the  captives  there,  and  the  sorrowing  woman 
went  back  again  to  her  life  of  dread  and  sus 
pense.  In  1791,  the  brothers  accompanied 
Proctor's  expedition  to  the  Cornplanter's 

224 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

town  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny, 
seeking  for  word  of  the  lost  one,  but  again 
without  success. 

In  1793  one  of  the  brothers  went  to  the 
Indian  treaty  at  Buffalo,  but  returned  with 
no  tidings.  In  1797  four  of  the  brothers, 
with  hopes  renewed  by  the  general  pacifica 
tion  of  the  Northwestern  tribes,  went  on  an 
extended  search,  up  through  Canada  and  on 
to  Detroit.  They  made  inquiry  everywhere 
and  offered  rewards.  Even  the  Indians 
seemed  to  sympathize  with  them,  but  no 
trace  could  be  found  of  their  long-lost  sister. 
Then,  indeed,  hope  seemed  crushed,  and  yet 
ten  years  later,  having  passed  her  allotted 
three-score  years  and  ten,  the  mother  went 
to  her  grave,  still  feeing  that  her  daughter 
lived.  It  is  not  hard  to  believe  that  infinite 
justice  and  infinite  mercy  then  lifted  the  veil, 
and  let  her  know  that  her  fears  had  been 
groundless — that  her  little  girl,  even  among 
savages,  had  not  been  mistreated  and  had 
not  suffered. 

But  the  brothers  and  sisters  did  not  know, 
and  the  dying  injunction  of  their  mother  to 
keep  up  the  search  added  inspiration  to  what 
had  become  almost  a  matter  of  religion  to 

225 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

them.  Letters  of  inquiry  and  appeals  for  in 
formation  were  continued  whenever  oppor 
tunity  arose.  Nearly  twenty  years  after  the 
mother's  death  there  came  to  the  East  the 
strange  story  of  the  Wyandot  mission — of 
the  invasion  of  the  Wyandot  town  at  San- 
dusky  by  a  lone  negro  apostle,  without 
money,  supplies  or  friends,  who  had  finally 
learned  their  language,  converted  a  number 
of  the  Wyandots  to  Christianity,  established 
a  Methodist  church,  and  started  the  tribe  on 
the  road  to  civilization.  And  with  this  came 
a  report  that  one  of  the  converts,  Between- 
the-Logs  (Te-ar-ron'-tu-6s — he  was  of  the 
bear  totem,  and  the  name  refers  to  the  man 
ner  of  a  bear  crouching  between  two  logs) 
had  a  white  wife,  who  had  been  taken  captive 
when  a  child.  Possibly  this  might  be 
Frances,  and  so,  in  1826,  one  of  the  brothers, 
accompanied  by  a  nephew,  made  the  long 
journey  to  Upper  Sandusky,  only  to  find  that 
their  effort  was  again  fruitless. 

But  even  after  this  long  series  of  disap 
pointment  the  letter  of  Ewing  revived  their 
hope,  and  an  interchange  of  letters  with  him 
almost  assured  them  that  the  lost  was  at  last 
found.  Arrangements  were  quickly  made 

226 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

for  a  journey  to  the  Mississinewa  by  two  of 
the  brothers  and  a  sister — all  now  over  sixty 
years  of  age — and  in  September,  1837,  they 
started  on  this  last  search.  The  details  of 
the  journey  are  not  material.  They  came 
to  the  Deaf  Man's  Village,  accompanied  by 
James  T.  Miller,  an  interpreter,  and  James 
B.  Fulwiler,  of  Peru.  They  were  received 
by  'Muk-kons'-kwa  with  all  of  an  Indian's 
stoical  show  of  indifference.  Could  this 
wrinkled  old  Indian  woman  be  the  fair  child 
whom  they  had  sought  so  long?  Her  hair 
alone  appealed  to  memory.  They  asked  to 
see  the  forefinger  of  her  lef"  hand.  It  had 
been  crushed  and  the  nail  was  gone. 

"How  did  that  happen?"  they  asked. 

"My  brother  struck  it  with  a  hammer  in 
the  shop,  a  long  time  ago,  before  I  was  car 
ried  away,"  was  the  answer. 

This  brought  certainty,  for  this  had  oc 
curred  about  a  year  before  her  loss.  She 
told  the  story  again  through  the  interpreter. 
Her  memory  of  her  father  and  the  family, 
of  the  coming  of  the  Indians  and  of  her 
capture,  all  agreed  with  theirs.  But  her 
name  was  forgotten. 

"Was  it  Frances?"  one  asked. 
227 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

There  was  an  instant  show  of  emotion  in 
her  stolid  face,  which  gave  way  to  a  smile 
as  she  finally  answered:  "Yes,  Franca, 
Franca." 

It  was  indeed  the  long-lost  sister,  but  there 
were  no  tears  of  joy,  no  fond  embraces. 
They  told  their  part  of  the  story,  the  moth 
er's  grief  and  the  long  search.  They  con 
vinced  her  that  this  gray-haired  woman  was 
her  sister  who  ran  away  to  the  fort  with  her 
little  brother  when  the  Indians  came,  and 
that  one  of  these  old  men  was  that  brother. 
She  was  interested,  but  she  was  an  Indian  as 
completely  as  if  born  one.  She  did  not  un 
derstand  their  language  and  they  did  not 
understand  hers.  The  meeting  was  almost 
painful  in  its  failure  of  anticipations,  but  the 
constraint  wore  off  somewhat  as  they  con 
versed  through  the  interpreter,  and  she 
agreed  to  visit  them  on  the  following  day  in 
Peru. 

In  the  morning — it  was  Sunday — Frances 
came  to  the  new  hotel  in  the  little  town,  ac 
companied  by  the  daughters  Ke-ki-nak'-ish- 
wah  (Cut  Finger)  and  On-sah'-wah-shin'- 
kwa  (Yellow  Leaf),  and  the  former's  hus 
band,  Ta-quah'-ke-ah  (Autumn),  a  French 

228 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

half-breed  commonly  known  as  Captain 
Brouillette — all  riding  astride  Indian  ponies. 
They  were  dressed  in  their  best,  and  brought 
with  them  a  ham  of  venison  as  a  friendship 
offering,  which  was  delivered  with  due  na 
tive  ceremony.  After  some  reminiscence, 
the  brothers  and  sisters  spoke  of  the  old 
home  on  the  Susquehanna,  and  begged  her 
to  go  back  and  make  her  home  with  them, 
promising  her  every  comfort  in  her  declining 
years.  With  a  look  of  sadness  she  shook  her 
head  and  answered  firmly : 

"No,  I  can  not.  I  have  always  lived  with 
the  Indians ;  they  have  always  used  me  very 
kindly;  I  am  used  to  them.  The  Great  Spirit 
has  always  allowed  me  to  live  with  them,  and 
I  wish  to  live  and  die  with  them.  Your  look 
ing-glass  may  be  longer  than  mine,  but  this 
is  my  home.  I  do  not  wish  to  live  any  bet 
ter,  or  anywhere  else,  and  I  think  the  Great 
Spirit  has  -permitted  me  to  live  so  long  be 
cause  I  have  always  lived  with  the  Indians. 
I  should  have  died  sooner  if  I  had  left  them. 
My  husband  and  my  boys  are  buried  here, 
and  I  can  not  leave  them.  On  his  dying  day 
my  husband  charged  me  not  to  leave  the 
Indians.  I  have  a  house  and  large  lands, 

229 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

two  daughters,  a  son-in-law,  three  grand 
children,  and  everything  to  make  me  com 
fortable  ;  why  should  I  go  and  be  like  a  fish 
out  of  water?" 

"But  won't  you  at  least  go  and  make  a 
visit  to  your  old  home,  and  when  you  have 
seen  us,  return  again  to  your  children?" 
asked  one  of  her  brothers. 

"I  can  not;  I  can  not.  I  am  an  old  tree. 
I  can  not  move  about.  I  was  a  sapling  when 
they  took  me  away.  It  is  all  gone  past.  I 
am  afraid  I  should  die  and  never  come  back. 
I  am  happy  here.  I  shall  die  here  and  lie  in 
that  graveyard,  and  they  will  raise  the  pole 
at  my  grave  with  the  w7hite  flag  on  it,  and 
the  Great  Spirit  will  know  where  to  find  me. 
I  should  not  be  happy  with  my  white  rela 
tives.  I  am  glad  enough  to  see  them,  but  I 
can  not  go.  I  can  not  go.  I  have  done." 

Her  position  was  supported  by  her  daugh 
ters  and  Captain  Brouillette,  who  .was  a  man 
of  good  habits,  and  one  of  the  few  Indians 
who  had  adopted  civilized  methods  of  farm 
ing;  and  the  brothers  and  sister  themselves 
finally  concluded  that  perhaps  she  was  right. 
And  so  the  meeting  that  had  been  dreamed 
of  for  years  came  to  an  end.  Frances  went 

230 


FRANCES  SLOCUM  MONUMENT. 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

back  to  her  Indian  home,  and  the  others 
turned  back  to  the  East,  satisfied  that  they 
had  at  least  performed  their  mission,  and 
complied  with  their  mother's  dying  request. 
There  were  letters,  of  course,  and  visits 
from  various  Eastern  relatives;  and  in  1846, 
at  the  request  of  Frances,  her  nephew,  the 
Rev.  George  Slocum,  came  to  live  near  her, 
and  give  her  his  counsel  and  assistance.  Most 
of  the  Miamis  had  then  been  removed  to  the 
West,  under  the  treaty  of  1840,  but  by  a 
special  resolution  of  Congress,  Frances  and 
her  children  were  permitted  to  remain  in 
their  old  home.  There  on  March  9,  1847. 
she  peacefully  passed  away,  and  was  laid  to 
rest  in  the  little  family  graveyard  on  the  hill 
near  by. 

Half  a  century  rolled  away,  but  she  was 
not  forgotten.  Her  story  had  become  one 
of  the  features  of  our  frontier  legends.  In 
1899  James  F.  Stutesman,  of  Peru,  called 
the  attention  of  the  surviving  members  of 
her  family  to  the  fact  that  her  grave  was  un 
marked.  A  family  monument  organization 
was  at  once  formed,  and  on  May  17,  1900,  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  whites  and 
Indians  of  the  vicinity,  and  of  members  of 


THE  LOST  SISTER  OF  WYOMING 

the  Slocum  family  from  all  parts  of  the  coun 
try  a  handsome  white  bronze  monument  over 
her  grave  was  unveiled.  As  you  look  on  it, 
and  out  over  the  valley  where  she  lived,  you 
are  carried  back  to  the  olden  time,  and  real 
ize  that  this  eventful  life  was  one  of  the 
early  links  in  the  complicated  chain  that 
binds  East  and  West,  North  and  South,  into 
one  common  fatherland. 


237 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH. 

When  the  Potawatomis  made  their  last 
large  cessions  of  land  in  northern  Indiana, 
in  1832,  they  retained  a  number  of  small 
reservations  for  little  bands  that  did  not 
wish  to  go  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Half  a 
dozen  of  these  were  scattered  along  the  Tip- 
pecanoe  river,  beginning  at  its  head  with 
that  of  Mes-kwah-buk's  band,  whose  village 
was  where  the  village  of  Oswego  (an  Iro- 
quois  word  meaning  "Flowing  Out"— usu 
ally  applied  to  the  mouth  of  a  stream)  now 
stands.  Mes-kwah-buk  is  the  Potawatomi 
word  for  copper,  literally  red  metal,  or  stone ; 
but  To-pash  says  it  is  also  applied  to  a  red 
sky  at  sunrise,  and  that  it  was  in  this  sense 
that  it  was  used  in  this  chief's  name.  The  res 
ervation  farthest  down  the  river  was  that  of 
Meh'-mot-way  (Cat  Bird.  The  word  also 
means  "He  complains,"  or  "he  cries  out  with 
pain")  and  others,  just  above  Rochester. 

234 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

Other  reservations  were  grouped  about 
Lake  Maxinkuckee  ( M6g-sin'-ke-ki — accent 
on  the  second  syllable — or  Big  Stone  coun 
try).  Of  these  the  largest  was  that  of  Aub'- 
be-naub'-be's  band,  southeast  of  the  lake, 
covering  thirty-six  sections.  Aub'-be-naub'- 
be  is  equivalent  to  our  slang  term  "rubber 
neck,"  for  it  means  "looking  backward,"  as  a 
person  or  animal  looks  back  over  the  shoul 
der  when  going  away  from  you.  East  of  the 
lake  was  the  reservation  and  village  of  Nas- 
waw'-kee  (the  Feathered  Arrow — the  word 
also  means  "a  feather,"  or  "one  who  feathers 
arrows").  North  of  these,  at  Twin  Lakes, 
was  a  reserve  of  twenty-two  sections  for  the 
bands  of  Me-nom'-i-nee  (Wild  Rice),  No- 
taw'-ka  (Hearing,  or  Listening),  Ma-kot'- 
ta-m'wha  (Black  Wolf)  and  others. 

In  the  year  1836  these  reservations  were 
relinquished  to  the  United  States  by  a  series 
of  treaties  and  most  of  the  Indians  were  re 
moved  in  1837.  The  Indians  were  not  very 
willing  to  go,  and  the  treaties  were  the  cause 
of  much  feeling.  In  Aubbenaubbe's  band  it 
resulted  in  the  killing  of  the  old  chief  by  his 
son  Puk-shuk  (Falling  Down — the  name  is 


235 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

sometimes  written  Pau-ko-Shuk).  Puk-shuk 
was  then  made  chief  and  started  with  the 
band  to  the  West,  but  escaped  on  the  way, 
and  came  back  to  his  old  country,  where  he 
dragged  out  the  few  remaining  years  of  his 
wretched  existence.  By  August  6,  1838, 
most  of  the  Indians  had  gone  except  Menom- 
inee  and  his  band.  Menominee  had  not 
signed  the  treaty  and  refused  to  go.  A  coun 
cil  was  held  at  his  village,  attended  by  Col. 
Abel  C.  Pepper,  the  Government  agent,  and 
a  number  of  Indians  and  whites  of  the  vicin 
ity.  Menominee  was  obdurate.  When  all  the 
argument  had  been  completed,  he  arose  and 
said  to  the  council : 

"The  President  does  not  know  the  truth. 
He,  like  me,  has  been  imposed  upon.  He  does 
not  know  that  you  made  my  young  chiefs 
drunk  and  got  their  consent,  and  pretended 
to  get  mine.  He  does  not  know  that  I  have 
refused  to  sell  my  lands,  and  still  refuse.  He 
would  not  by  force  drive  me  from  my  home, 
the  graves  of  my  tribe,  and  my  children  who 
have  gone  to  the  Great  Spirit,  nor  allow  you 
to  tell  me  your  braves  will  take  me  tied  like 
a  dog,  if  he  knew  the  truth.  My  brothers, 
the  President  is  just,  but  he  listens  to  the 

236 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

word  of  young  chiefs  who  have  lied;  and 
when  he  knows  the  truth  he  will  leave  me 
to  my  own.  I  have  not  sold  my  lands.  I  will 
not  sell  them.  I  have  not  signed  any  treaty, 
and  will  not  sign  any.  I  am  not  going  to 
leave  my  lands,  and  I  do  not  want  to  hear 
anything  more  about  it." 

The  situation  was  embarrassing.  Menom- 
inee  was  an  exemplary  man — a  religious 
man,  who  exhorted  his  followers  to  abstain 
from  liquor,  to  be  honest  and  peaceable. 
The  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy,  for  eighteen  years 
a  Baptist  missionary  among  the  Indians  of 
northern  Indiana,  bears  testimony  to  this.  A 
number  of  the  band  were  also  exemplary,  for 
this  village  was  the  place  of  a  Catholic  mis 
sion,  and  the  testimony  of  the  missionaries 
can  not  be  questioned.  A  chapel  had  been 
built  in  1830.  It  was  a  log  structure,  thirty 
by  twenty  feet,  standing  on  a  little  eminence 
on  the  bank  of  the  largest  of  the  four  little 
lakes  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  The  west 
half  of  the  structure  was  two  stories  high; 
the  upper  one,  which  was  reached  by  a  ladder 
from  below,  being  used  as  quarters  for  the 
priest.  It  was  of  Indian  construction,  and 
not  of  the  best.  Father  Petit  says :  "In  more 

238 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

than  one  place  we  can  see  daylight  through 
the  walls.  My  fireplace  is  large  enough  to 
contain  a  quarter  of  a  cord  of  wood.  I  have 
no  carpet,  and  the  boards  of  my  floor  are  so 
slightly  fastened  that  they  yield  to  the  pres 
sure  of  the  foot  like  the  keys  of  the  piano 
to  the  musician's  fingers." 

At  this  place,  in  connection  with  neighbor 
ing  charges,  Father  de  Seille  officiated  for 
seven  years;  and  on  his  death,  in  1837,  Bis 
hop  Brute'  sent  Father  Petit  to  take  his  place. 
Benjamin  Marie  Petit  was  a  native  of 
Rennes,  born  in  1811.  After  a  brilliant 
course  in  college,  he  studied  for  the  bar,  and 
practiced  successfully  for  a  time;  but  in  the 
year  1835  he  felt  himself  called  to  the  min 
istry  in  mission  work.  In  this  he  was  en 
couraged  by  Bishop  Brute',  who  happened  to 
be  in  Rennes  at  the  time.  He  began  his 
theological  studies  at  Paris,  and  concluded 
them  at  Vincennes,  Ind.,  his  ordination  be 
ing  somewhat  hastened  by  the  death  of 
Father  de  Seille.  Father  Petit  at  once  en 
tered  on  his  charge,  and  soon  became  deeply 
interested  in  his  Indian  parishioners.  He 
was  not  only  a  man  of  culture  and  deep  reli 
gious  fervor,  but  also  of  most  tender  heart 

239 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

and  keen  sympathy.  His  letters  are  full  of 
praise  for  his  Potawatomi  converts.  In  one, 
written  about  a  month  after  he  had  begun 
work  among  them,  after  describing  their  dil 
igence  in  church  duties,  he  says: 

"Many  are  in  the  habit  of  frequent  com 
munion,  and  when  deprived  of  this  consola 
tion  by  the  death  of  M.  de  Seille,  they  prac 
ticed  spiritual  communion  with  the  most  edi 
fying  fervor.  I  have  already  baptized  eight 
een  adults.  The  spirit  of  proselytism  is  ad 
mirable  among  these  children  of  the  forest; 
all  the  newly  baptized,  who  belonged  to  an 
other  village,  brought  with  them  others  of 
their  friends  in  order  that  they  might  be 
taught  their  prayers  and  catechism.  I  could 
scarcely  give  you  an  idea  of  the  attachment 
of  my  good  Indians.  'We  were  orphans/  they 
say,  'and  in  the  dark;  but  you  appeared  like 
a  great  light,  and  now  we  live.  You  take  the 
place  of  our  dead  father,  and  we  shall  do 
nothing  without  your  advice.'  'I  do  not  hold 
the  hearts  of  others  in  my  hand,'  said  an  old 
man,  as  he  clasped  my  hand,  while  big  tears 
filled  his  eyes,  'but  mine  will  never  forget 
what  you  have  told  us.  If  we  have  any 


240 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

trouble  we  come  to  you.  What  shall  we  do 
when  you  leave  us  ?' 

At  this  time  this  was  the  only  Catholic 
mission  to  the  Indians  in  northern  Indiana. 
There  had  been  one  for  a  time  at  the  village 
of  Che-chauk'-kose  (Little  Crane),  on  the 
Tippecanoe  river,  in  what  is  now  Marshall 
County,  but  it  had  been  abandoned,  and 
Father  Petit's  field  included  the  Potawatomis 
of  all  northern  Indiana  and  southern  Michi 
gan,  as  well  as  the  white  Catholics  at  South 
Bend  and  other  points.  He  calls  his  mission 
"Chichipe  Outipe,"  which  I  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  identify,  but  the  first  word  is  appar 
ently  She-she'-pa,  which  is  the  Potawatomi 
word  for  "duck." 

Trouble  soon  followed  the  council  at  Me- 
nominee's  village.  The  Hon.  Daniel  Mc 
Donald,  who  made  personal  investigation  of 
the  matter  among  the  old  settlers,  says  the 
origin  of  the  trouble  was  "with  Mr.  Waters, 
who  had  settled  in  the  reservation,  without 
authority,  a  few  months  previous,  and  de 
sired  the  Indians  to  leave  so  he  could  pre 
empt  160' acres  of  the  reservation,  under  the 
law  of  Congress  passed  in  June  of  that  year. 
He  was  the  disturbing  element  and  set  about 

241 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

deliberately  to  work  up  the  disturbance  so 
that  the  Governor  would  be  compelled  to  re 
move  them."  Certain  it  is  that  Waters 
claimed  that  some  ten  days  after  the  council 
the  Indians  chopped  his  door  and  threatened 
his  life.  This  was  followed  by  the  burning 
of  ten  or  twelve  Indian  cabins.  Then  Waters 
and  others  petitioned  Governor  Wallace  for 
protection.  Colonel  Pepper,  the  Indian 
agent,  made  a  requisition  for  one  hundred 
men  to  keep  the  peace  and  Governor  Wallace 
at  once  appointed  General  John  Tipton  to 
raise  that  number  of  volunteers  and  take 
charge  of  the  situation.  He  acted  so 
promptly  that,  as  Governor  Wallace  re 
ported,  "in  about  forty-eight  hours  after  the 
requisition  was  authorized  the  requisite  force 
was  not  only  mustered  but  was  transported 
into  the  midst  of  the  Indians  before  they 
were  aware  of  its  approach." 

This  was  true.  Part  of  the  Indians  were 
in  the  chapel  at  prayer  when  Tipton  an 
nounced  his  arrival  by  a  volley  of  musketry. 
It  was  effective  notice.  Father  Petit  says  of 
the  old  mother  of  Black  WTolf,  whom  he 
found  sick  at  South  Bend  later,  "The  poor 
creature  had  been  so  frightened  at  the  dis- 

242 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

charge  of  musketry,  ordered  by  General  Tip- 
ton,  when  he  made  prisoners  of  the  Indians, 
that  she  ran  to  the  woods,  where  she  hid 
herself  for  six  days,  without  having  any 
nourishment  during  all  that  time.  She 
had  wounded  her  foot  and  could  not  walk. 
Happily,  an  Indian,  who  was  looking  for  his 
horses,  found  the  poor  fugitive,  and,  placing 
her  on  one  of  the  horses,  brought  her  to  a 
French  family  near  South  Bend,  where  I 
heard  her  confession/' 

There  was  no  parleying  with  Tipton.  He 
was  not  a  cruel  man,  but  he  understood  that 
he  was  sent  to  remove  the  Indians,  and  he 
left  no  room  for  mistake.  He  says:  "Many 
of  the  Indian  men  were  assembled  near  the 
chapel  when  we  arrived,  and  were  not  per 
mitted  to  leave  camp  or  separate  until  mat 
ters  were  amicably  settled,  and  they  had 
agreed  to  give  peaceable  possession  of  the 
land  sold  by  them."  The  few  arms  the  In 
dians  had  were  taken  from  them.  Squads  of 
soldiers  were  sent  in  every  direction  to  bring 
in  stragglers,  and  by  September  4  Tipton 
had  gathered  859,  young  and  old,  for  re 
moval.  It  had  not  been  arranged  that  Father 
Petit  should  accompany  them.  He  assembled 

243 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

them  in  the  chapel  for  a  final  service,  and 
to  remove  the  decorations.  He  says :  "At  the 
moment  of  my  departure  I  assembled  all  my 
children  to  speak  to  them  for  the  last  time.  I 
wept,  and  my  auditors  sobbed  aloud.  It  was 
indeed  a  heartrending  sight,  and  over  our 
dying  mission  we  prayed  for  the  success  of 
those  they  would  establish  in  the  new  hunt 
ing  grounds.  We  then  with  one  accord  sang 
'O  Virgin,  we  place  our  confidence  in  thee.' 
It  was  often  interrupted  by  sobs,  and  but 
few  voices  were  able  to  finish  it.  I  then  left 
them."  On  September  3  the  Indians  paid  a 
last  visit  to  their  dead  at  the  little  graveyard, 
and  held  an  impressive  service,  accompanied 
by  general  lamentation,  that  was  indescrib 
ably  pathetic,  as  they  bade  farewell  forever 
to  the  resting  places  of  their  lost  ones. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  September  4  the 
order  to  march  was  given,  and  the  Indians 
started  on  their  long  journey.  The  soldiers 
destroyed  all  the  huts  and  cabins  to  remove 
any  temptation  to  return.  And  now  the 
physical  discomforts  almost  caused  forget- 
fulness  of  others.  The  season  had  been  un 
usually  hot  and  dry.  The  dust  floated  in 
clouds.  Many  of  the  ordinary  sources  of 

244 


X 

o 
•J. 

•s. 


o 

w 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

water  supply  had  dried  up,  and  others  were 
almost  unfit  for  use.  Malarial  fevers  were 
unusually  prevalent  among  both  whites  and 
Indians.  On  September  16  a  Laporte  County 
correspondent  wrote:  "Death,  disease  and 
drought  are  dealing  distress  around  us.  We 
had  within  a  few  weeks  past  more  than  four 
times  as  many  deaths  as  in  all  the  four  years 
since  the  first  commencement  of  the  settle 
ment  of  this  county.  *  *  *  Deep  River, 
through  its  whole  length  across  Robinson's 
Prairie  is  entirely  dry.  *  *  *  Cedar  Lake 
[now  a  popular  resort],  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  two  miles  in  length  and  one  in  breadth, 
has  fallen  so  low  that  it  has  stagnated, 
turned  green,  with  a  very  offensive  smell 
that  has  affected  the  health  of  the  settlers 
upon  its  borders  most  seriously.  Cattle  be 
gin  to  suffer  for  food  and  water  in  many 
places." 

For  the  sick  and  feeble  Indians  the  rough 
traveling  in  the  wagons  provided  for  their 
use  was  almost  unendurable.  Even  by  the 
time  they  reached  Logansport  their  camp 
was  described  as  "a  scene  of  desolation;  on 
all  sides  were  the  sick  and  dying."  They 
fared  worse  than  the  soldiers,  of  whom  Tip- 

246 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

ton  says :  "I  was  compelled  to  discharge  one 
or  more  every  day  and  permit  them  to  re 
turn  home  on  account  of  bad  health/' 

On  they  went  through  the  Wabash  valley, 
the  suffering  increasing  until  General  Tip- 
ton  united  with  the  Indians  in  an  urgent  call 
to  Father  Petit  to  join  them.  His  health 
was  so  delicate  that  his  friends  urged  him 
not  to  go,  but  he  obtained  permission  from 
Bishop  Brute',  and  hurried  after  them,  com 
ing  up  with  them  at  Perry ville.  He  says: 
"On  Sunday,  September  16,  I  came  in  sight 
of  my  poor  Christians,  marching  in  a  line, 
and  guarded  on  both  sides  by  soldiers  who 
hastened  their  steps.  A  burning  sun  poured 
its  beams  upon  them,  and  they  were  envel 
oped  in  a  thick  cloud  of  dust.  After  them 
came  the  baggage  wagons,  into  which  were 
crowded  the  many  sick,  the  women  and  chil 
dren  who  were  too  feeble  to  walk  *  *  * 
Almost  all  the  babies,  exhausted  by  the  heat, 
were  dead  or  dying.  I  baptized  several  new 
ly-born  happy  little  ones,  whose  first  step 
was  from  the  land  of  exile  to  heaven." 

And  this  was  no  exaggeration.  A  letter 
to  the  Terre  Haute  Courier,  dated  Septem 
ber  17,  1838,  which  was  widely  copied  in  the 

247 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

State  papers,  tells  of  their  arrival  at  Dan 
ville,  111.,  and  is  notable  for  its  tone  of  seem 
ing  apology  for  sympathy  with  the  sufferers. 
The  writer  says:  "Their  movements  are  im 
peded  much  by  sickness,  and  those  various 
accidents  to  which  an  emigrating  party  of 
800,  old  and  young,  may  be  supposed  liable. 
Although  there, are  fifty  or  sixty  sick  in  the 
camp,  this  proportion  is  said  to  be  less  than 
that  which  exists  in  the  county  around  Dan 
ville,  and  other  portions  of  the  Wabash,  in 
proportion  to  population.  *  *  *  Some 
affecting  scenes  have  taken  place  in  the  camp 
since  and  before  the  Indians  were  got  under 
way.  One  chieftain  had  a  mother  upward 
of  a  hundred  years  old,  over  which  a  con 
sultation  was  held  whether  or  not  it  would 
be  better  to  put  her  to  death  before  she 
started,  as  no  hopes  of  her  long  surviving 
(particularly  under  the  fatigues  of  emigra 
tion)  could  reasonably  be  entertained.  For 
tunately,  humane  counsels  prevailed,  and  the 
poor  creature  died  and  was  buried  after  a 
journey  of  four  days.  *  *  *  Others  have 
been  compelled  to  leave  a  wife  after  them 
in  one  place,  and  a  child  in  another,  in  con 
sequence  of  sickness;  and  some  have  had  to 

248 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

bury,  far  remote  from  their  native  hunting 
grounds,  or  from  the  promised  land  of  their 
adoption  in  the  West,  their  nearest  and  dear 
est  kindred.  These  things,  of  course,  must 
excite  one's  sympathies,  but  how  can  they 
be  avoided,  considering  all  things?  They 
are  treated  with  all  possible  kindness  by  the 
amiable  conductor  and  those  under  him;  but 
yet,  to  see  800  poor,  half-clothed,  hatless, 
breechless  creatures  in  a  single  file,  choked 
with  dust,  and  suffocated  with  heat,  mount 
ed  on  poor,  half-starved  Indian  ponies,  is  a 
sight  that  no  man  of  sensibility  can  look 
upon  unmoved  or  with  composure.  The  dif 
ficulty  of  finding  water,  horse  feed,  etc.,  in 
crossing  the  Grand  Prairie,  it  is  feared,  may 
impede  very  much  their  march,  as  well  as 
increase  among  them  the  progress  of  dis 


ease." 


At  this  point  General  Tipton  and  his  men 
turned  back,  except  fifteen  men  retained  as 
an  escort,  and  the  Indians  proceeded  under 
the  care  of  Judge  William  Polke,  the  Gov 
ernment  agent,  and  Father  Petit.  They  rest 
ed  for  two  days  before  starting  on,  and 
Father  Petit  records:  "Here  we  left  six 
graves  under  the  shadow  of  the  cross."  Then 

249 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

they  marched  on  into  the  parched  prairies  of 
Illinois,  crossed  the  Mississippi,  and  on  to 
the  Osage  River,  where  they  arrived  after  a 
journey  of  two  months  over  the  trail  of 
death,  150  fewer,  by  death  and  desertion, 
than  when  they  started. 

In  his  report  of  the  removal,  General  Tip- 
ton  says  of  Father  Petit:  "It  is  but  justice  to 
him  to  say  that  he  has,  both  by  example  and 
precept,  produced  a  very  favorable  change  in 
the  morals  and  industry  of  the  Indians ;  that 
his  untiring  zeal  in  the  cause  of  civilization 
has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  eventually 
beneficial  to  these  unfortunate  Potawat- 
omis,  when  they  reach  their  new  abode/' 
But  Father  Petit  was  not  to  remain  with 
them.  He  found  Father  Hoeken  waiting  to 
take  charge  of  them,  but  he  was  so  weak 
ened  by  the  journey  that  six  weeks  passed  be 
fore  he  could  turn  back  as  directed  by  Bish 
op  Brute'.  One  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on 
horseback  brought  him  to  St.  Louis,  but  he 
could  go  no  farther.  He  found  kindly  shelter 
with  the  Jesuits  there — his  last  shelter.  A 
month  later  Bishop  Brute'  received  a  letter 
from  the  rector  of  the  Jesuits  in  which  he 
said:  "What  a  great  loss  has  your  diocese 

250 


THE  TRAIL  OF  DEATH 

sustained  in  Father  Petit!  He  arrived  here 
on  the  15th  of  January,  reduced  to  a  most 
pitiable  state  by  the  fever;  eleven  running 
sores  on  different  parts  of  his  body,  his  per 
son  covered  with  the  tint  of  the  jaundice,  and 
in  the  last  stage  of  debility.  God  certainly 
gave  him  strength  which  his  body  did  not 
possess,  in  order  to  reach  St.  Louis.  *  *  * 
On  the  night  of  the  10th  of  February  they 
came  to  tell  me  that  he  was  near  his  end.  As 
I  entered  he  raised  his  head,  and  inclined  it, 
saluting  me  with  a  smile  upon  his  dying  lips. 
I  asked  him  if  he  suffered  much.  He  an 
swered  by  casting  an  expressive  glance  at 
the  crucifix,  'You  wish  to  say',  I  replied,  'that 
He  suffered  much  more  for  you?'  'Oh,  yes/ 
he  answered.  I  placed  the  crucifix  to  his 
lips,  and  he  kissed  it  twice,  with  great  ten 
derness.  During  his  agony  we  recited  the 
prayers  for  the  dying,  which  he  followed, 
his  eyes  constantly  fixed  upon  us.  He  sweet 
ly  expired  about  midnight,  age  twenty-seven 
years  and  ten  months." 

Father  Petit's  memory  is  cherished.  In 
1856  the  clergy  of  Notre  Dame  brought  his 
remains  from  St.  Louis  and  reinterred  them 
by  those  of  Father  De  Seille.  One  of  them 

251 


TRUE  INDIAN  STORIES 

writes:  "We  consider  these  two  precious 
mortal  remains  a  double  source  of  blessing 
for  the  ground  they  sanctify.  It  does  us 
good  to  kneel  between  those  two  revered 
tombs,  so  eloquent  in  their  silence.  We  feel 
very  little  inclined  at  any  time  to  pray  for 
them,  but  we  love  to  recommend  ourselves 
to  their  intercession."  And  the  Indians  are 
not  forgotten.  In  1905  Daniel  McDonald, 
of  Plymouth,  who  is  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  story  of  their  wrongs,  and  has 
called  public  attention  to  it,  introduced  in 
the  Indiana  Legislature  a  bill  for  an  appro 
priation  to  erect  a  monument  to  the  Pota- 
watomis  at  Menominee  village,  and  rebuild 
the  Indian  chapel.  He  made  an  eloquent 
plea  for  this  memorial  to  the  Indians  we  had 
mistreated,  but  his  bill  did  not  pass  at  that 
session.  Undaunted,  he  continued  his  effort, 
and  in  1907  his  bill  became  a  law.  The  com 
mission  provided  for  by  this  act  is  now  pre 
paring  for  its  work,  for  which  it  is  author 
ized  to  receive  outside  donations  in  addition 
to  the  $2,500  appropriated  by  the  State,  and 
in  due  time  a  fitting  memorial  will  be  made 
to  these  people,  who,  it  must  be  confessed, 
suffered  hard  treatment  at  the  hands  of  our 
forefathers. 

252 


INDEX  GLOSSARY  OF  INDIANA  IN 
DIAN  NAMES. 

ABOITE — River  and  township  in  Allen 
County.  A  corruption  of  the  French  name 
Riviere  a  Boitte  or  Riviere  a  Bouette, 
meaning  River  of  Minnows — strictly 
speaking,  minnows  used  as  bait  for  larger 
fish.  The  Miami  name  of  the  stream  is 
Na-kow'-we-se-pe,  or  Sand  Creek. 

AMO — Town  in  Hendricks  County.  Often 
said  to  be  "the  Indian  word  for  honey 
bee,"  which  is  ah'mo,  in  Odjibwa  and 
Potawatomi.  In  reality  it  is  the  Latin 
"amo,"  "I  love." 

ANDERSON — County-seat  of  Madison  Coun 
ty.  Named  for  William  Anderson,  head 
chief  of  the  Indiana  Delawares.  His  In 
dian  name  was  Kok-to'-wha-nund,  which 
may  be  translated  "Making  a  Cracking 
Noise,"  or  "Causing  to  Crack."  The 
name  of  the  Delaware  town  at  this  point 
was  Wah'-pi-mins'-kink,  or  Chestnut 
Tree  Place. 

253 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

ANOKA — Town  in  Cass  County.  Anoka  is  a 
Sioux  adverb,  signifying  "on  both  sides," 
but  in  this  form  is  used  only  in  composi 
tion.  As  a  separate  word,  the  Sioux  use 
"a-nog." 

APEKONIT — Miami  name  of  Captain  Wil 
liam  Wells,  sometimes  translated  "Indian 
potato."  It  is  the  Miami  name  of  the  "wild 
bean/'  or  "groundnut" — apios  tuberosa. 
Pronounced  a-pe-kon'-it. 

ASHKUM — Reservation  and  village  of  a 
Potawatomi  chief  of  that  name,  in  Miami 
County.  The  name  is  variously  translated 
"to  continue,"  "more  and  more,"  "more 
of  the  same  kind" — the  idea  being  the 
same  in  each  case. 

ATCIIEPONGQUAWE — A  creek,  tributary  to 
the  Salominee,  in  Jay  County,  now  known 
as  Butternut  Creek,  named  in  the  treaty  of 
St.  Mary's  (Oct.  6,  1818)  to  locate  a 
reservation  for  the  children  of  Langlois. 
The  name  is  compounded  of  at-che'-pong, 
the  Miami  for  "snapping-turtle,"  and 
"wah-we,"  an  egg.  Probably  the  latter 
should  be  plural,  and  the  name  would  be 
better  written  at-che'-pong-kwah'-wah. 

AUBBEENAVBBEE — Township  in  Fulton 

254 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

County,  and  reservation  of  a  Potawatomi 
chief  of  that  name.  The  name  means 
Looking  Backward,  i.  e.,  as  a  person  or 
animal  looks  back  over  its  shoulder  when 
moving  away  from  you.  Pronounced 
awb'-be-nawb'-be. 

BLACKHAWK — Postoffice  in  Vigo  County, 
named  for  the  celebrated  Sauk  chief  Ma- 
kah'-ta-me'-she-kiak'-kiak.  The  name 
means  Black  Sparrow  Hawk,  but  by  uni 
versal  usage  it  is  made  Blackhawk. 

BLACK  LOON — Reservation  in  Cass  County 
for  a  Miami  named  Ma-kah'-ta-mon'- 
gwah,  i.  e.,  Black  Loon. 

BUCKONGEHELAS — Commonest  form  of  the 
name  of  the  great  Delaware  war-chief, 
and  of  the  town  in  which  he  lived  on 
White  River.  It  occurs  in  many  forms, 
ranging  from  Buckengelis  to  Pokenchelah 
and  Packangahelis.  It  is  properly  pro 
nounced  Poch-gont'-she-he'-los,  and 
means  "Breaker  to  Pieces." 

CAKIMI — A  Potawatomi  woman  for  whose 
children  the  reservation  on  the  Wabash 
River,  below  the  Tippecanoe,  now  known 
as  the  Burnett  Reserve,  was  made  by  the 
treaty  of  1818.  She  was  a  sister  of  To'- 
255 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

p'n-i-be"  (Quiet  Sitting  Bear),  who  was 
head  chief  of  the  Potawatomis  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  last  century.  The  Potawa- 
tomi  pronunciation  is  Kaw-ke'-me,  and 
the  meaning  is  "Run  Away  from  Home." 

CALUMET — Two  streams  of  northwestern 
Indiana,  tributary  to  Lake  Michigan, 
Great  and  Little  Calumet.  The  name  is  a 
corruption  of  what  was  formerly  written 
Cal-o-mick,  Killomick,  Kenomick,  Ken- 
noumic,  which  represent  dialect  variations 
of  the  same  word,  varying  from  Ken- 
nom'-kyah  in  the  Potawatomi  to  Ge-keT-e- 
muk  in  the  Delaware,  and  signifying  a 
body  of  deep,  still  water.  Calumet  is  not 
an  Indian  word,  but  of  French  origin. 

CAYUGA — Postoffice  in  Vermillion  County, 
named  for  the  New  York  lake  and  city. 
The  name  is  Iroquois — sometimes  given 
as  Gwa-u-geh — and  is  said  to  mean  "the 
place  of  taking  out,"  i.  e.,  the  beginning 
of  a  portage. 

CEDAR  CREEK — Stream  in  Allen  County, 
tributary  to  the  St.  Joseph  River.  The 
name  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  Pota 
watomi  name  Mes-kwah'-wah-se'-pe.  The 
town  of  the  Potawatomi  chief  Me'-te-ah 
256 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

(Kiss  Me)  was  at  its  mouth,  and  took 
from  it  its  name  of  Mes-kwah'-wah-se'- 
pe-o'-tan,  or  Cedar  Creek  Town. 

CHARLEY — A  Miami  who  had  a  reservation 
in  Wabash  County,  adjoining  the  city  of 
Wabash ;  also  a  creek  which  empties  there. 
His  Indian  name  was  Ke-ton'-gah— 
sometimes  written  Ke-tun-ga — which 
means  "sleepy." 

CHECHAUKKOSE — Reservation  and  vil 
lage  of  Potawatomi  chief  of  that  name, 
on  Tippecanoe  River,  in  Marshall  County. 
It  is  sometimes  written  Chit-cha-kos,  and 
in  other  forms.  It  is  the  diminutive  form 
of  Che'-chawk — the  crane — and  is  to  be 
translated  "The  Little  Crane."  There  was 
for  a  time  a  Catholic  mission  at  this  place. 

CHICAGO — East.  Town  in  Lake  County. 
There  has  long  been  a  controversy  as  to 
whether  this  name  means  "Place  of  the 
Skunk,"  or  "Place  of  Wild  Onions,"  aris 
ing  from  the  fact  that  the  same  stem  en 
ters  into  both  words.  The  latter  is  cer 
tainly  correct,  as  it  is  given  by  the  earliest 
French  chroniclers — Joutel  and  Lamothe 
Cadillac — and  the  Chicago  River  was 


257 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

known  as  "Garlick  Creek"  during  the 
French  period. 

CHINQUAQUA — Reservation  in  Cass  County. 
The  name  is  a  corruption  of  Shin-gwah'- 
kwah,  which  the  Miamis  apply  indiscrim 
inately  to  evergreen  trees,  such  as  the 
pine,  the  cedar,  the  tamarack,  etc. 

CHICHIPE  OUTIPE — Given  by  Father  Petit 
as  the  Potawatomi  name  of  the  Catholic 
mission  at  Twin  Lakes  in  Marshall  Coun 
ty,  but  not  translated  by  him.  The  first 
word  is  probably  She-she'-pa — their  word 
for  "duck." 

CHIPPECOKE — Common  form  of  the  name 
of  the  Indian  village  at  Vincennes.  The 
Miami  name  of  the  place  was  Chip-kah'- 
ki-oon'-gi,  or  Place  of  Roots,  but  the  last 
two  syllables  are  sometimes  dropped. 

CHIPPEWANAUNG — Place  on  Tippecanoe 
River  in  Fulton  County,  where  treaties 
were  made  with  the  Potawatomis  in  1836. 
The  Indians  say  this  means  "Chippewa 
Place,"  but  give  no  reason  for  the  name. 

CHIPWANIC — Tributary  of  the  Tippecanoe, 
near  Manitou  Lake,  in  Fulton  County. 
People  of  the  vicinity  give  the  name  its 


258 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

proper  Potawatomi  pronunciation — Chip- 
wah-nuk'.  The  word  means  "Ghost  hole." 

CHOPINE — Two  Indian  reservations,  one  in 
Whitley  County  and  one  in  Allen  County. 
The  name  varies  to  Chappene,  Shappeen. 
It  is  a  French  nickname,  properly  Chop- 
ine,  meaning  a  pint  measure,  that  was  ap 
plied  to  two  Miamis.  Old  Chopine  was 
Ma-kwah'-kyah,  or  "Beaver  Head." 
Young  Chopine  was  Pe-cong'-gah,  or 
"Striking." 

COESSE — Town  in  Whitley  County.  This  is 
the  Potawatomi  nickname  of  a  Miami 
band  chief.  The  Miamis  pronounce  it 
K6-wa-zi,  and  it  appears  in  various  trea 
ties  as  Coisa,  Koessay,  Kowassee,  etc. 
The  Potawatomi  pronunciation  is  Ku- 
wa'-ze,  and  the  word  means  "old,"  or,  as 
here,  "old  man."  He  was  a  son  of  Ma- 
kah-ta-mon'-gwah,  or  Black  Loon,  and  a 
grandson  of  Little  Turtle.  His  Miami 
name  was  M'tek'-kyah,  meaning  "forest," 
or  "woods." 

CORNSTALK — Postoffice  in  Howard  County; 
also  "Pete  Cornstalk  Creek,"  a  small 
stream  in  the  same  county.  These  are 
memorials  of  an  old  Miami  of  the  Thorn- 

25Q 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

town  band,  who  lived  in  this  vicinity. 
"Cornstalk"  was  merely  a  nickname  used 
by  the  white  settlers.  His  proper  name 
was  Ah-son'-zong,  which  means  "sun 
shine." 

DEER  CREEK — Tributary  of  the  Wabash, 
emptying  below  Delphi.  It  is  called  Pas- 
seanong  Creek  in  treaties,  and  this  name 
is  still  sometimes  given  to  Deer  Creek 
Prairie,  opposite  its  mouth.  This  is  the 
Miami  name  of  the  stream,  compounded 
of  ah-pas'-syah,  a  fawn,  and  the  terminal 
locative;  literally  "The  Place  of  the 
Fawn." 

DELAWARE — Name  of  Indiana  county,  town 
and  several  townships,  referring  to  the 
Delaware  Indians.  The  word  Delaware  is 
not  Indian,  but  refers  to  their  former  res 
idence  near  the  Delaware  River,  which 
was  named  for  Lord  De  La  Warr,  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia.  They  call  themselves 
Lenni  Lenape  (len'-ni  len-ah'-pay)  which 
'  may  be  translated  "virile  men,"  "true 
men"  or  "men  of  men."  The  western  Al- 
gonquians  usually  called  them  Wah'-pi- 
nacb'-i,  or  "Eastlanders";  and  sometimes 


260 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

E'-la-nah'-bah,  or  "People  from  the 
Dawn." 

DORMIN — Prairie  in  Laporte  County.  This 
is  a  corruption  of  m'dah'-min,  the  Pota- 
watomi  word  for  maize  or  corn.  The 
name  may  have  been  given  for  a  Pota- 
watomi  chief  of  this  name,  who  figures 
in  the  treaties  as  "Me-do-min,"  "Mat- 
taw-min,"  etc.  The  Odjibwa  form  of  this 
word  is  Mondamin  (spirit  grain),  and  it 
is  also  the  name  of  the  spirit  or  deity  of  the 
maize. 

DRIFTWOOD — Common  name  of  the  east 
fork  of  White  River.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  the  Indian  name  was  On'-gwah- 
sah'-kah,  which  is  the  Miami  for  "drift 
wood,"  but  I  have  never  found  a  Miami 
who  knew  it  by  that  name.  On  Hough's 
map  it  is  marked  "Gun-dah-quah,"  which 
may  possibly  have  been  intended  for  the 
Delaware  gun-a-quot,  meaning  "long." 

EAGLE  CREEK — Tributary  of  White  River, 
in  Marion  County.  Chamberlain  says: 
"Its  Indian  name  was  Lau-a-shinga- 
paim-honnock,  or  Middle  of  the  Valley,  so 
called  from  the  beautiful  bottoms  that  ex 
tend  along  it,  sometimes  from  two  to  four 
261 


THE  DESCENT  OF  MONDAMIN— SPIRIT  OF  THE  MAIZE. 
(By  C.  T.  Webber.) 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

miles  in  width."  This  may  be  correct. 
Lawi  is  the  Delaware  for  "middle;" 
schingeu  means  "level;"  pern,  or  peem, 
has  the  force  of  "near"  or  "adjoining;" 
and  hanni  is  a  "river." 

EEL  RIVER — Tributary  of  the  Wabash,  emp 
tying  at  Logansport.  This  name,  and  the 
French  name — L'Anguille — are  transla 
tions  of  the  Miami  name  of  the  stream 
which  is  Ke-na-pe'-kwo-ma'-kwa.  The 
final  vowel  is  very  slightly  sounded,  or  not 
at  all.  The  valley  of  this  stream  was  the 
chief  residence  of  the  Miamis  known  to 
the  Americans  as  "Eel  Rivers,"  who  prob 
ably  included  what  were  known  to  the 
French  as  Pe-pi-ko-kias  and  Miamis  of 
Maramech. 

EEL  RIVER — Tributary  of  White  River,  emp 
tying  in  Greene  County.  Chamberlain 
gives  the  Indian  name  of  the  Eel  River 
of  the  Wabash  as  Sho-a-maque,  but  prob 
ably  confuses  that  stream,  which  was  not 
in  the  Delaware  country,  with  this  one, 
which  was;  for  sho-a-maque  is  evidently 
intended  for  the  Delaware  name  of  the 
eel,  schach-a-mak,  i.  e.,  slippery  fish. 

ELKHART — Tributary  of  the  St.  Joseph's  of 
263 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

Lake  Michigan;  also  city  and  county 
named  for  the  river.  The  name  was 
formerly  written  Elk  Heart,  or  Elksheart, 
which,  like  the  French  name,  "Coeur  de 
Cerf,"  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  Pota- 
watomi  name  of  the  stream  Me-sheh'- 
weh-ou-deh-ik/  The  same  name  was 
given  to  a  Potawatomi  village  that  was 
located  on  the  stream.  The  name  refers 
to  an  island  at  its  mouth,  which  resem 
bled  an  elk's  heart  in  shape. 

FALL  CREEK — Stream  of  central  Indiana, 
tributary  to  White  River.  The  name  is  a 
translation  of  the  Delaware  name,  which 
Chamberlain  gives  as  "Soo-sooc-pa-hal- 
oc,  or  Spilt  Water."  Sokpehellak,  or  sook- 
pehelluk,  is  the  Delaware  word  for  a  wa 
terfall,  and  the  name  refers  to  the  falls  at 
Pendleton.  The  Miami  name  of  the 
stream  is  Chank'-tun-oon'-gi,  or  "Makes  a 
Noise  Place,"  which  refers  to  the  same 
falls. 

FLAT  BELLY — A  large  reservation  in  Kos- 
ciusko  and  Noble  counties,  for  the  band 
of  Pa-pa-kee'-chi,  of  which  the  English 
name  is  a  literal  translation.  The  reser 
vation  extended  to  Wawassee,  or  Turkey 
264 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

Lake  on  the  west,  but  the  chief's  village 
was  east  of  that,  at  what  is  now  known 
as  "Indian  Village/'  in  Noble  County. 

FORT  WAYNE — Called  by  old  Miamis  Ke'- 
ki-oon'-gi,  for  explanation  of  which  see 
Kekionga. 

GODFROY — Reservation  on  the  Wabash  and 
Mississinewa  rivers  opposite  Peru,  to 
Francois  Godfrey,  a  French  half-breed, 
who  was  the  last  war-chief  of  the  Miamis. 
It  is  commonly  stated  that  his  Indian 
name  was  Pah-lons'-wah,  but  there  is  no 
such  Miami  word — it  is  their  mode  of  pro 
nouncing  Francois.  He  had  no  Indian 
name. 

HUNTINGTON — County-seat  of  Huntington 
County.  The  Miamis  call  this  place  We- 
pe-chah'-ki-oon'-gi,  or  in  shorter  form 
We-pe-chah'-ki-oong,  which  means  "Place 
of  Flints."  A  flint  ridge  crosses  the  lime 
stone  here,  which  furnished  the  Indians  a 
valuable  supply  in  early  times. 

ILE  A  I/AIL  French  name,  meaning 

"Island  of  Garlic,"  for  a  small  island  in 
the  Wabash,  in  Carroll  County  (Sec.  5, 
Tp.  25  N.,  Range  2  W.).  The  name  seems 
to  have  been  adopted  by  the  Indians,  and 
265 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

was  used  in  the  treaty  of  St.  Mary's 
(1818),  as  "Esle  a  1'Aille,"  to  locate  a  res 
ervation  to  the  children  of  Antoine 
Bondie. 

INDIANAPOLIS — The  Miamis  called  the  site 
of  the  city  Chank'-tun-oon'-gi,  from  its 
location  at  the  mouth  of  Fall  Creek,  and 
also  sometimes  give  the  same  name  to  the 
city.  It  means  "Makes  a  Noise  Place." 

ILLINOIS — French  form  of  the  word  illini- 
wek,  or  "men,"  which  was  the  name  the 
Illinois  Indians  gave  to  themselves. 

IROQUOIS — River,  tributary  to  the  Kankakee, 
and  township  in  Newton  County.  Charle- 
voix  says  the  word  is  a  Gallicism  derived 
from  hiro,  "I  have  spoken,"  a  word  by 
which  the  Iroquois  were  wont  to  conclude 
their  speeches,  and  kowe,  an  exclamation. 
The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  derives  it  from 
an  Algonquian  word  meaning  "real  ad 
ders."  The  name  refers  to  an  ancient  bat 
tle  said  to  have  occurred  on  the  stream,  in 
which  the  Illinois  routed  a  party  of  Iro 
quois. 

JOSINA  CREEK — A  small  stream  in  Wabash 
and  Grant  Counties,  tributary  to  the  Mis- 
sissinewa.  The  word  is  an  erratic  corrup- 
266 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

tion  of  T6-san'-yah,  the  common  Miami 
abbreviation  of  Met'-6-san'-yah,  which  is 
the  equivalent  of  our  word  "Indian."  Met- 
osanyah's  village  was  at  the  mouth  of  the 
stream,  which  on  some  maps  is  marked 
"Metocinyah  Creek." 

KANKAKEE — River  of  northern  Indiana; 
postoffice  in  Starke  County;  and  town 
ships  in  Laporte  and  Jasper  counties.  Fa 
ther  Charlevoix  gives  the  name  as  Thea- 
kiki,  which  he  says  the  Canadians  had  cor 
rupted  to  Kiakiki.  This  is  the  Potawatomi 
name,  which  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy  makes 
"Tiau-kakeek,"  and  which  the  Indians 
pronounce  Teh'-yok-ke'-ki.  It  means  "low 
land"  or  "swampy  county."  Father  Ma- 
rest  wrote  the  name  "Huakiki,"  which  is  a 
corruption  of  the  Miami  "Ma-whah'-ke- 
ki,"  meaning  "wolf  county."  Both  names 
appear  on  old  maps.  Kankakee  is  presum 
ably  a  further  corruption  of  Kiakiki.  The 
name  appeared  later  as  "Qui-que-que," 
and  "Quin-qui-qui ;"  the  French  pronun 
ciation  of  the  latter  being  practically  the 
same  as  Kankakee. 

KEKIONGA — Common  form  of  the  name  of 
the  Indian  village  which  stood  at  the  site 
267 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

of  Ft.  Wayne.  It  is  a  corruption  of  Ki- 
ka-kon,  or  Kis-ka-kon,  which  was  the  or 
iginal  name.  The  Kiskakons,  a  tribal  di 
vision  of  the  Ottawas,  had  a  village  here 
before  the  Miamis,  and  the  Maumee  was 
then  known  as  Ottawa  River.  The  Mi- 
amis  corrupted  the  name  to  Ke'-ki-oon'-gi, 
which  they  still  apply  to  Ft.  Wayne.  The 
Dela wares  made  it  Ke-gey-unk.  Ki-ka-kon 
means  "clipped  hair,"  and  was  given  to 
these  Indians  because  they  shaved  the 
sides  of  the  head  and  trimmed  the  remain 
ing  scalp-lock  like  the  mane  of  a  Roman 
horse.  The  French  called  them  Queues 
Coupees. 

KENAPACOMAQUA — Common  form  of  the 
name  of  the  large  Miami  town  at  the 
mouth  of  Eel  River,  which  was  destroyed 
by  Gen.  Wilkinson  in  1791.  The  name  is 
Ke-na-pe'-kwo-ma'-kwa,  but  the  final 
vowel  is  sounded  lightly,  if  at  all.  It 
means  "eel;"  literally  "snake-fish." 

KENTUCKY — Stream  in  southern  Indiana. 
The  name  comes  originally  from  the  large 
tributary  of  the  Ohio  from  the  south ;  and 
its  meaning  is  uncertain,  because  the  orig 
inal  form  of  the  word  is  not  known,  nor 
268 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

the  language  from  which  it  was  taken.  In 
Henderson's  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  on 
the  Watauga  it  is  called  Cantuckey  Che- 
nooe.  But  the  name  is  also  said  to  be 
Rain-tuck.  John  Johnston  says  the  word 
is  Shawnee,  and  means  "head  of  the 
river."  It  was  also  called  Cuttawa  River 
in  early  times.  Cuttawa  is  probably  the 
Cherokee  Ki-tu'-wha — a  name  formerly 
applied  to  the  tribe,  but  later  to  a  secret 
organization  pledged  to  maintain  the 
autonomy  of  the  tribe.  This  was  com 
monly  called  "the  Keetoowah  Society"  by 
the  whites. 

KEWANNA — Postoffice  in  Fulton  County, 
and  reservation  for  Potawatomi  chief  of 
that  name.  Ke-waw'-ne  is  the  Potawato 
mi  name  of  the  prairie  chicken ;  and  also 
means  "lost."  The  word  is  very  similar 
to  the  Miami  Ke-wah-ni,  which  means 
"nose." 

KICKAPOO — Creek  in  Warren  County, 
named  for  the  Indian  tribe.  The  meaning 
of  the  name  is  uncertain,  but  Schoolcraft 
surmised  that  it  was  a  corruption  of  Neg- 
ik-a-boo,  meaning  "otter's  ghost."  The 
otter  was  one  of  their  totems.  They  were 
269 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

closely  associated  with  the  Mascoutins, 
whose  name  is  variously  interpreted  "Fire 
Nation"  or  "Prairie  Nation,"  on  account 
of  the  similarity  of  the  words  for  "fire" 
and  "prairie"  in  the  Algonquian  dialects. 

KITHTIPPECANUNK — Popular  form  of  the 
name  of  The  Prophet's  Town,  and  the  old 
Indian  town  that  stood  at  the  same  place. 
It  means  "Tippecanoe  Town,"  and  is 
formed  by  adding  the  terminal  locative  to 
the  name  of  the  Tippecanoe  River,  which 
is  Ke-tap'-kwon  in  Miami,  and  Ke-tap-e- 
kon  in  Potawatomi;  and  these  are  names 
of  the  buffalo  fish. 

KILLBUCK — Creek  in  Madison  County;  also 
Delaware  village  on  White  River,  com 
monly  known  as  "Buck's  town,"  and 
named  for  Charles  Killbuck,  who  lived 
there.  Killbuck  has  become  a  Delaware 
family  name,  the  original  bearer  of  which 
died  about  1776.  His  son,  who  was  known 
both  as  Killbuck  and  Gelelemend  (The 
Leader),  was  very  prominent  in  Revolu 
tionary  times.  He  became  a  Moravian 
convert,  and  was  baptised  William  Henry, 
in  honor  of  a  friend  of  his  father.  He 
died  at  Pittsburg  in  181 1,  aged  80  years. 
270 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

KILSOKWA — The  oldest  Indian  living  in  In 
diana  in  1908,  born  in  1810.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Wahk-shin'-gah  (The  Cres 
cent  Moon — literally  Lying  Crooked),  who 
was  a  son  of  Little  Turtle.  Her  mother's 
name  was  Nah-wa'-kah-mo'-kwa,  which 
she  translates  'The  First  Snow" — literal 
ly  it  means  the  one  that  comes  first  in  any 
thing.  She  says  her  own  name  means 
"The  Setting  Sun,"  but  literally  it  appears 
to  mean  only  "The  Sun  (feminine),"  or 
"Sun  Woman."  Kil-so'-kwa  married  a 
Frenchman,  Antoine  Revarre,  and  now 
lives  near  Roanoke  with  her  son  Antony 
Revarre,  whose  Indian  name  is  Wah'-pi- 
mon'-gwah,  or  White  Loon. 

KOKOMO — County  seat  of  Howard  County; 
also  a  creek  near  it.  Said  to  have  been 
the  name  of  a  Miami  chief  of  the  Thorn- 
town  band,  but  there  is  no  such  name 
signed  to  any  treaty  unless  it  be  "Co-come- 
wah,"  which  appears  in  the  treaty  of  1834. 
It  has  been  translated  "Black  Walnut," 
"Bear  Chief,"  and  "Young  Grandmother," 
for  none  of  which  is  there  any  basis.  Both 
Godfrey  and  Kilsokwa  say  there  was  a 
Thorntown  Indian  named  Ko-kah'-mah, 
271 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

and  that  the  name  refers  to  him.  Godfrey 
says  this  name  means  "He  Goes  Under," 
as  in  diving;  and  that  it  may  be  translated 
"Something  Diving,"  or  "The  Diver." 

LAGRO — Town  in  Wabash  County.  The 
name  is  a  corruption  of  Le  Gros,  the 
French  nickname  of  a  Miami  chief  who 
lived  here.  His  Miami  name  was  O-sah'- 
mo-nee,  which  is  presumably  a  Miami  cor 
ruption  of  6n'-sah-la'-mo-nee — the  Miami 
name  of  the  bloodroot,  and  the  original 
name  of  the  Salamonie  River,  which 
empties  opposite  the  town.  See  Sala 
monie. 

LITTLE  DEER  CREEK — Stream  in  Miami 
County.  The  Miami  name  is  Ah-pas'- 
syah,  which  is  their  word  for  a  fawn. 

LITTLE  MUNSEE — A  Delaware  town  on 
White  River,  about  4  miles  east  of  Ander 
son  (S.  E.  1-4  of  Sec.  17,  Range  8  E.).  It 
was  located  on  the  site  of  the  old  Moravian 
Mission.  For  meaning  of  name,  see 
"Muncie." 

LITTLE  RIVER — Tributary  of  the  Wabash,  to 

which  portage  was  made  from  the  Mau- 

mee,  in  going  to  the  Wabash.    The  Miami 

name  of  the  stream  is  Paw-we'-kom-se-pe, 

272 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

which  means  "Standing  Still  River,"  or 
"No  Current  River."  It  runs  through  a 
flat  country,  and  its  natural  quiet  was  in 
creased  by  beaver  dams,  which  travelers 
sometimes  used  as  locks. 

LOGANSPORT — County  seat  of  Cass  County, 
named  for  Captain  Logan,  a  Shawnee  In 
dian,  who  was  killed  in  1812  while  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States.  His  Indian 
name  was  Spemica  Lawba,  or  High  Horn. 
The  town  stands  on  the  site  of  the  old 
Miami  town  of  Ke-na-pe'-kwo-ma-kwa. 

MACHESAW — Reservation  made  for  a  Pota- 
watomi  of  this  name  by  the  treaty  of  1832. 
The  Potawatomi  pronunciation  is  Mat'- 
chis-saw,  and  the  meaning  is  Bleating 
Fawn. 

MANHATTAN — Postoffice  in  Putnam  County, 
named  from  Manhattan  Island,  New 
York.  The  meaning  is  uncertain,  because 
the  original  form  of  the  word  is  unknown. 
The  old  Dutch  writers  called  it  Manatte, 
which  resembles  the  Delaware  "menatey," 
meaning  an  island.  Heckewelder  says  it 
is  a  corruption  of  manahachtanienk,  and 
means  "the  place  where  we  all  got  drunk." 
Schoolcraft  derives  it  from  manau,  mean- 
273 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

ing  "bad,"  and  atun,  "a  channel,"  with  the 
terminal  locative;  and  says  the  reference 
is  to  Hell  Gate.  Tooker  makes  it  "island 
of  hills."  Other  translations  are  "small 
island,"  "beautiful  view,"  and  "place 
where  wood  is  gathered  for  bows  and  ar 
rows."  The  last  refers  to  a  growth  of 
hickory  said  to  have  been  on  the  island. 
The  chances  favor  Heckewelder's  view,  as 
Manhattan  was  not  originally  an  island, 
for  the  Harlem  and  Spuyten  Duyvel 
Creek  were  not  connected  at  low  tide. 

MAJENICA — Postoffice  in  Huntington  Coun 
ty;  also  creek.  They  are  named  for  the 
Miami  chief  Mon-je'-ni-kyah,  which 
means  "big  body,"  or  rather  "big  frame," 
for  it  refers  to  the  size  of  the  entire  per 
son. 

MAKKAHTAHMOWAY — Common  form  of 
name  of  a  Potawatomi  chief  who  had  a 
joint  reservation  with  Menominee  at  Twin 
Lakes,  in  Marshall  County.  The  name  is 
pronounced  Ma-kah'-ta-m'wah — the  final 
syllable  varying  to  m'weh — and  the  mean 
ing  is  "Black  Wolf." 

MANITOU — Lake  in  Fulton  County.  This  is 
the  Potawatomi  ma-ne'-to — the  Miami 
274 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

form  being  mah-nat'-o-wah — and  refers  to 
a  supernatural  monster  said  to  inhabit  the 
lake.  Ma-ne'-to  signifies  merely  a  spirit, 
and  good  or  bad  qualities  are  indicated  by 
adjectives. 

MAUMEE — River  of  northeast  Indiana,  trib 
utary  to  Lake  Erie.  The  name  is  a  cor 
ruption  of  Me-ah'-me,  approaching  the  In 
dian  pronunciation,  and  abandoning  the 
French  spelling.  It  was  formerly  called 
"the  Miami  of  the  Lake,"  and  still  earlier 
as  the  Ottawa  River,  on  account  of  the 
residence  of  that  tribe  on  its  banks.  John 
Johnston  gives  "Cagh-a-ren-du-te,  or 
Standing  Rock,"  as  the  Wyandot  name  of 
the  stream.  This  name  refers  to  a  large 
rock  near  the  foot  of  the  rapids,  known 
as  Roche  de  Bout. 

MARAMECH — One  of  the  bands  or  divisions 
of  the  Miamis.  It  is  the  Peoria  word  for 
"catfish,"  sometimes  written  maramek,  or 
maramak.  The  Miami  form  is  me-aT-16- 
mak,  sometimes  written  malamak ;  and  the 
Potawatomi  and  Odjibwa  forms  are  man- 
amak,  or  manumaig.  The  term  "Miamis 
of  Maramech"  refers  to  their  location, 
probably  on  a  stream  of  that  name,  of 

275 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

which  there  were  several.  The  most  im 
portant  was  the  Kalamazoo,  of  Michigan, 
on  which  these  Indians  lived  for  some 
years.  They  were  probably  the  same  band 
as  those  later  known  as  "Eel  Rivers." 

MAXINKUCKEE — Lake  in  Marshall  County. 
The  name  has  been  written  in  various 
ways.  The  Potawatomi  pronunciation  is 
M6g-sin'-kee-ki,  and  the  meaning  is  "Big 
Stone  Country."  There  were  several 
terminal  moraines  about  the  lake,  which 
have  made  extensive  rock  bars  in  it. 
Many  of  the  bowlders  that  formerly  lay  on 
the  shores  have  been  gathered  up  and  used 
for  foundations  and  retaining  walls.  Old 
fishermen  claim  that  there  is  one  enormous 
bowlder  in  the  south  end  of  the  lake  that 
comes  within  five  or  six  feet  of  the  sur 
face  of  the  water,  and  is  an  especially 
good  fishing  place;  but  it  is  rare  that  any 
of  them  can  locate  it. 

MAZAQUA — Reservation  in  Cass  County,  to 
a  Miami  chief  whose  name  appears  in  va 
rious  forms  but  is  properly  pronounced 
Me-ze'-kwah.  It  is  their  word  for  hail  or 
hailstones. 

MEMOTWAY — Reservation  for  band  of  a 

276 


INDEX 'GLOSSARY 

Potawatomi  chief  of  this  name,  on  the  Tip- 
pecanoe  River  in  Fulton  County.  It  is 
pronounced  Meh'-mot-way,  and  is  the 
name  of  the  catbird.  Literally  it  means 
"complaining,"  or  "crying  out  from  pain," 
the  reference  being  to  the  querulous  note 
of  the  bird. 

MENOM  i  NEE — Potawatomi  reservation  in 
Marshall  County,  and  village  in  same  at 
Twin  Lakes,  where  there  was  a  Catholic 
mission.  Me-nom'-i-ne  means  "Wild  Rice 
People"  and  was  applied  to  the  tribe  of 
that  name  on  account  of  their  extensive 
use  of  wild  rice  for  food.  The  Miamis 
call  wild  rice  nay'-lo-min,  or  wild  grain, 
but  the  Potawatomis  use  me-nom-in. 

MESHINGOMESHIA — Miami  reservation  on 
the  Mississinewa  River  in  Wabash  and 
Grant  counties,  and  village  in  Grant 
County.  The  name  is  Me-shing'-gwa- 
min'-ji,  but  it  occurs  in  numerous  forms, 
and  is  popularly  corrupted  to  "Shingle 
Mash."  Specifically  it  is  the  name  of  the 
burr-oak  tree,  and  is  often  used  as  a  per 
sonal  name  for  both  males  and  females. 
Min-ji,  in  composition,  means  "tree."  The 
remainder  of  the  word  may  be  a  survival 
277 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

of  a  primitive  Algonquian  form,  corre 
sponding  to  the  Delaware  m'chingwe,  and 
meaning  "large;"  or  it  may  be  "shing- 
gwah,"  meaning  "leaves/'  which  is  used 
by  the  Miamis  in  composition,  although 
they  use  she-pah-kwah  as  a  separate  word. 
The  burr-oak  is  the  largest  of  our  oaks, 
with  the  largest  leaves,  and  is  a  fine  shade 
tree. 

MESQUABUCK — Reservation  at  Tippecanoe 
Lake,  in  Kosciusko  County,  and  village 
which  stood  at  the  site  of  Oswego,  both 
named  for  the  Potawatomi  chief  to  whom 
they  belonged,  and  who  is  popularly  re 
membered  in  the  vicinity  as  "Squaw 
Buck."  The  name  is  Mes'-kwah-buk, 
which  is  the  Potawatomi  name  for  "cop 
per,"  and  is  sometimes  used  for  red  pipe- 
stone.  Topash  says  it  is  also  used  to  signi 
fy  the  red  color  of  the  sky  at  sunrise  or 
sunset,  and  that  it  was  applied  to  this  chief 
in  this  sense. 

METEA — Postoffice  in  Cass  County  named 
for  the  Potawatomi  chief  Me'-te-ah — Mc 
Coy  calls  him  Meteor.  His  village  was  on 
the  St.  Joseph's,  about  nine  miles  above  Ft. 
Wayne,  at  the  mouth  of  Cedar  Creek,  and 
278 


ME-TE-AH   (KISS  ME.) 
(From    Portrait   formerly  in   National   Gallery.) 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

was  called  Mus-kwah'-wah-se'-pe-o'-tan, 
or  Cedar  Creek  Town.  Accounts  of  him 
will  be  found  in  Keating's  Narrative  of 
Major  Long's  Expedition  in  1823;  in  Mc- 
Kenney  and  Hall's  Indian  Tribes;  and  in 
local  histories  of  Allen  and  other  counties. 

METOSANYAH — Reservation  and  creek  in 
Wabash  and  Grant  counties.  The  name 
is  commonly  abbreviated  to  T6-san'-yah, 
and  has  been  corrupted  to  Josina.  It  is  the 
exact  equivalent  of  our  new-coined  word 
"Amerind,"  i.  e.,  American  Indian.  Liter 
ally,  and  no  doubt  originally,  it  means 
"the  Living,"  but  after  the  coming  of  the 
whites  it  would  naturally  be  applied  to 
that  portion  of  "the  living"  that  were  na 
tive  to  America.  It  is  often  used  as  a  per 
sonal  name  for  both  males  and  females, 
and  is  translated  "Indian." 

MIAMI — County,  town,  several  townships 
and  streams  all  named  for  the  Miami  na 
tion  of  Indians.  The  proper  pronuncia 
tion  is  Me-ah'-me — in  the  plural  Me-ah'- 
me-ah'-ki,  or  Me-ah'-me-6k — but  it  is 
hopelessly  corrupted  to  Mi-am'-mi.  The 
Miamis  do  not  know  the  meaning  of  the 
word,  and  it  is  never  translated  by  the  old 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

chroniclers;  so  it  is  evidently  a  name 
given  by  some  other  tribe.  The  oldest 
forms  given  by  the  French  writers  are 
"Oumiamiouek,"  "Oumiamiak,"  etc.  This 
is  most  probably  "Wemiamik" — the  Dela 
ware  name  of  the  Miamis  given  in  the 
Walum  Olum.  It  means  "all  beavers,"  or 
"all  beaver  children,"  i.  e.,  figuratively 
"all  friends."  The  Delawares  were  on 
very  friendly  terms  with  the  Miamis  from 
the  most  ancient  known  times;  and  they 
called  themselves  "grandfathers"  of  all 
the  Algonquian  tribes.  It  has  been  urged 
that  "Miami"  is  from  the  Odjibwa  name 
of  the  tribe,  "O-maum-eeg,  or  People  who 
live  on  a  peninsula,"  but  there  is  no  record 
that  the  Miamis  ever  lived  on  a  peninsula, 
and  it  is  more  probable  that  this  is  an  Od 
jibwa  corruption  of  "Oumiamiouek,"  with 
a  merely  accidental  meaning.  An  ingen 
ious  extension  of  this  theory  was  based 
on  the  occurrence  of  the  name  "Miami"  in 
Florida,  originally  applied  to  Lake  Okee- 
chobee,  and  later  to  a  river  and  town  on 
the  east  coast;  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  the  Miamis  ever  lived  in  Florida,  and 
no  probability  that  any  Indian  tribe  would 
281 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

call  Florida  a  peninsula.  The  Florida 
"Miami"  is  no  doubt  a  corruption  of  "Ma- 
yaimi,"  the  name  of  one  of  the  ancient 
tribes  of  that  region.  The  Miami  nation 
included  the  tribes  known  as  Ouiatanons, 
Piankeshaws,  Twightwees,  Eel  Rivers, 
and,  at  an  earlier  date  the  tribes  known 
as  Illinois.  See  these  names ;  also  "Mara- 
mech."  LaPotherie  says  of  the  Miamis: 
"They  travel  but  rarely  by  water,  but  are 
great  walkers,  which  has  given  them  the 
name  of  Metousceptinioueks  or  pilgrims." 

MICHIGAN — Lake  and  city.  Michigan  is 
probably  of  Odjibwa  origin;  compounded 
of  mi-shi,  meaning  "great,"  and  sa-gie- 
gan,  meaning  "lake." 

MISHAWAKA — Town  in  St.  Joseph  County. 
The  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  Potawato- 
mi  m'sheh'-wah-kek,  a  contraction  of 
m'sheh'-wah-kee'-ki,  or  "country  of  dead 
trees;"  in  our  common  phrase  "a  deaden 
ing."  There  was  at  this  point  a  tract 
of  dead  timber,  caused  by  fire  or  storm. 

MISHIKINOQKWA — Miami  name  of  the  cele 
brated  Little  Turtle;  also  his  village  on  Eel 
River,    sometimes   called   Turtle's   Town. 
The  pronunciation  is  Mi'-shi-kin-oq'-kwa 
282 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

—the  "q"  representing  a  sound  of  "gh" 
similar  to  the  German  "ch."  The  literal 
meaning  is  "Great  Turtle's  Wife,"  but  spe 
cifically  it  is  the  name  of  the  painted  ter 
rapin  (chrysemys  picta),  which  is  the  com 
monest  of  the  turtle  family  in  this  region. 
It  is  also  the  most  gaudily  colored,  which 
explains  the  literal  name,  The  Great  Tur 
tle  being  the  chief  beneficent  deity  of  the 
Algonquian  tribes.  As  the  painted  terrapin 
is  small,  not  growing  over  six  or  eight 
inches  across,  the  early  interpreters,  who 
did  not  know  a  special  name  for  it,  called 
it  "the  little  turtle,"  and  the  name  has 
become  permanent. 

MISSISSINEWA — Tributary  of  the  Wabash, 
emptying  at  Peru.  The  name  is  also  some 
times  given  to  a  Miami  town  at  its  mouth, 
otherwise  known  as  Osage  town.  The 
Miami  name  is  Na-mah'-chis-sin'-wi, 
which  as  applied  to  the  stream  is  trans 
lated  "much  fall  in  the  river."  Literally 
it  means  an  ascent,  or,  as  one  mixed-blood 
explained  it,  "a  consider'ble  slope  up,  but 
not  as  much  as  a  hill."  It  is  formed  from 
the  verb  na-mah'-chis-sing,  meaning  "it 
slants."  The  name  was  formerly  written, 
283 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

as  it  is  still  commonly  pronounced  in  the 
neighborhood,  Mas-sis-sin'-e-way. 
MODOC — Postoffice  in  Randolph  County, 
named  for  the  tribe  of  northern  California 
which  achieved  notoriety  by  the  massacre 
of  the  lava  beds.  It  is  said  that  the  name 
was  given  to  them  by  the  hostile  tribe  of 
the  Shasteecas,  and  that  it  means 


"enemies." 


MOHAWK — Postoffice  in  Hancock  County, 
named  for  the  Iroquois.  The  meaning  is 
uncertain,  but  is  supposed  to  be  "cannibal," 
as  that  interpretation  was  given  it  in  1676, 
when  they  were  mentioned  as  "Maugwa- 
wogs,  or  Mohawks,  i.  e.,  man-eaters." 

MONON — Postoffice  and  township  in  White 
County ;  also  creek  tributary  to  the  Tippe- 
canoe.  Mo'-non  is  a  Potawatomi  word 
exactly  equivalent  to  "tote,"  as  used  in  the 
South.  If  you  carry  anything  the  act  is 
monon.  If  you  accompany  a  person  it  is 
monon.  If  you  drive  one's  carriage,  or 
take  him  in  your  own,  it  is  monon. 

MOTA — Reservation  and  town  of  a  Potawat 
omi  chief  in  Kosciusko  County.  The 
name  is  pronounced  mo'-tay,  and  means  a 
jug,  or  a  big  bottle. 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

MUKKONSQUA — The  celebrated  captive 
Frances  Slocum  was  named  Muk-kons'- 
kwa  by  the  Miamis.  The  name  means 
Little  Bear  Woman. 

MUKKOSE — Potawatomi  reservation  and  vil 
lage  in  Marshall  County.  The  name  has 
been  corrupted  to  Muckrose,  Maukose, 
Mankekose,  etc.,  but  is  properly  Muk'- 
kose.  It  is  a  diminutive  form,  meaning 
Little  Beaver. 

MUNCIE — County  seat  of  Delaware  County, 
originally  known  as  Munseetown  or  Mun- 
ceytown.  It  was  so  called  because  there 
was  a  large  town  of  the  Delawares,  most 
ly  of  the  Munsee  or  Wolf  clan,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river  at  this  point.  Mun 
see  is  a  corruption,  developed  through 
Monsey,  and  Monthee,  from  Min'-si  or 
Min'-thiu,  meaning  "People  of  the  Stony 
Country,"  and  referring  to  their  former 
mountainous  home  in  the  East.  They  were 
commonly  called  Loups,  or  Wolves,  by 
the  French.  The  Delaware  name  of  this 
town  was  Wah'-pi-com-e'-koke,  or  Wah- 
pi-kah-me'-kunk,  which  means  White 
River  Town.  It  was  the  easternmost  of  the 
Delaware  towns  on  White  River — the 
285 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

first  reached  by  the  trails  from  the  north, 
east  and  south, — and  took  this  name  by 
pre-eminence.  The  town  originally  stood  a 
short  distance  farther  up  the  river;  and 
it  is  said  in  local  histories  that  it  was  then 
called  "Outainink,"  and  that  this  means 
"Old  Town."  This  is  evidently  due  to  a 
misunderstanding  of  the  Delaware  word 
uten-ink,  which  means  "site  of  the  town," 
or  "place  where  the  town  was,"  but  has 
been  mistaken  for  the  name  of  the  town 
that  was  there. 

MUSCACKITUCK — River  of  southern  Indi 
ana,  tributary  to  the  east  fork  of  White 
River;  often  improperly  written  Muscata- 
tack.  Chamberlain  says  of  it:  "In  In 
dian  Mesh-caque-tuck  or  Pond  River, 
from  its  many  stagnant  places  in  low 
water."  This  is  erroneous.  There  is  no 
such  Indian  word  for  "pond."  There  are 
no  "stagnant  places"  in  the  Muscackituck 
even  now,  and  it  was.  a  large?  and  steadier 
stream,  when  the  Indians  knew  it,  before 
the  forests  were  removed.  The  ending 
"tuk"  or  "hit-tuk"  is  never  applied  to 
stagnant  water,  and  of  itself  implies  water 
in  motion.  The  name  is  Delaware — com- 
286 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

pounded  of  mosch-ach'-geu,  meaning 
"clear,"  "not  turbid,"  and  hit'-tuk,  mean 
ing  a  stream — usually  a  small  and  rapid 
river.  Hence,  Mosch-ach'-hit-tuk — the 
"ch"  sounded  as  in  German — or  Clear 
River. 

MUSKELONGE — Lake  in  Kosciusko  County, 
four  miles  south  of  Warsaw.  There  has 
been  much  discussion  as  to  the  proper 
form  of  the  word — muskellonge,  mascal- 
longe,  maskinonge,  etc. — which  is  due  to 
different  dialects — the  Odjibwa  and  cog 
nate  tribes  having  no  "1,"  and  substituting 
"n"  for  it.  Its  meaning  is  the  same  in 
Indian  as  in  English — or  literally  "the 
great  pike." 

NANCY  TOWN — Common  name  of  Delaware 
village  on  White  River,  about  9  miles  west 
of  Anderson  (S.  E.  1-4  of  Sec.  5,  Range 
7  E. ) .  It  was  also  known  as  Nantico,  but 
properly  as  Nantikoke,  being  named  for 
James  Nantikoke,  who  lived  there.  Nanti 
koke  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  Delaware 
sub-tribes,  and,  according  to  Brinton, 
means  "tide-water  people,"  referring  to 
their  ancient  residence  between  Chesa 
peake  Bay  and  the  ocean. 
287 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

NAPPANEE — Town  in  Elkhart  County, 
named  for  the  Canadian  town,  which,  how 
ever,  is  spelled  with  one  "p."  The  name  is 
the  word  for  "flour"  in  the  language  of 
the  Missisauga  Indians,  who,  according 
to  their  chief  Paudash,  are  a  branch  of 
the  Shawnees,  who  were  driven  north 
from  the  Ohio  Valley  by  the  Iroquois. 
The  Canadian  name  refers  to  a  grist  mill 
built  in  early  times  at  the  falls  of  the  Nap- 
anee,  or  Apani  River. 

NASWAWKEE — Reservation  in  Marshall 
County,  bordering  Lake  Maxinkuckee. 
The  hill  rising  from  Maxinkuckee  land 
ing  is  still  known  as  Nas-waw'-kee's  Hill, 
the  Government  having  built  him  a  house 
there.  The  common  spelling  varies  from 
Naswaka  to  Neeswaughgee,  but  the  Pota- 
watomi  pronunciation  is  Nas-waw'-kee. 
It  means  primarily  "a  feather;"  but  also 
"a  feathered  arrow,"  or  "one  who  feathers 
arrows."  The  portrait  of  this  chief  in  the 
National  Gallery  was  marked  "Na-swa- 
ga  (The  Feathered  Arrow)"  and  that  is 
presumably  the  meaning  intended  in  his 
name. 

NEAIILONGQUATI — Common  form  of  name  of 

288 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

reservation  in  Allen  County.  It  is  a  cor 
ruption  of  Nay-wil'-leng-won'-gah,  which 
means  "Four  Wings."  This  chief  was 
commonly  known  to  the  whites  as  "Big 
Legs." 

NOTAWKAH — Potawatomi  chief  who  shared 
the  Menominee  reservation,  in  Marshall 
County.  The  name  means  "he  hears,"  or 
"he  listens." 

OKAWMAUSE — Reservation  to  a  Potwatomi 
chief  under  the  treaty  of  1832.  The  name 
is  pronounced  O'-ko-mouse,  and  means 
"Little  Chief." 

ONTARIO — Postoffice  in  Lagrange  County, 
named  for  the  lake.  Schoolcraft  says  that 
Ontario  is  a  Wyandot  word — originally 
"on-on-tar-io" — and  that  it  signifies 
"beautiful  hills,  rocks,  waters."  He  sup 
poses  it  to  be  expressive  of  the  feelings  on 
getting  the  view  of  the  lake  from  Cadarac- 
qui. 

OSAGE — Name  commonly  given  to  the  Mi 
ami  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississine- 
wa,  on  account  of  the  residence  there  of  an 
Osage  Indian.  He  lived  among  the  Mi- 
amis  as  a  member  of  their  tribe,  and  ap 
pears  in  their  treaties  as  "Osage,"  or 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

"Osage  the  Neutral."  The  Miamis  called 
him  Wah-shah'-shie,  which  is  their  name 
for  the  Osage  tribe. 

OHIO — County,  named  for  the  river.  La 
Salle  wrote  of  the  river  in  1680,  "the  Iro- 
quois  call  it  Ohio,  and  the  Ottawas  Oligh- 
in-cipou."  Ohio  is  an  Iroquois  exclama 
tion  signifying  "beautiful."  Olighin- 
cipou  is  apparently  the  same  as  the  old 
Delaware  name  Allegewi-sipo,  which 
probably  means  river  of  the  Talegewi  or 
Talega,  a  tribe  with  whom  the  Delawares 
were  at  war  anciently.  John  Johnston 
says  that  the  Wyandots  called  the  river 
O-he-zuh,  meaning  "something  great;" 
and  that  the  Shawnees  called  it  Kiskepila- 
sepe,  or  "Eagle  River."  Hough  gives  the 
Delaware  name  as  "Palawa-the-pee,  or 
Turkey  River."  On  the  oldest  French 
maps,  the  Ohio,  at  its  mouth,  is  marked 
Ouabouskiau,  Ouaboustikou,  or  Oua- 
bouskigou.  These  are  dialect  forms  of 
Wah-bah-shik'-ki,  the  Miami  name  of  the 
Wabash.  The  tribes  of  this  region  treated 
the  Wabash  as  the  main  stream,  and  the 
Ohio  as  tributary  to  it;  and  the  French 


290 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

followed  their  nomenclature  until  about 
1750. 

OSCEOLA — Postoffice  iii  St.  Joseph  County, 
named  for  the  celebrated  chief  of  the  Sem- 
inoles  (Rebels  or  Wanderers).  The  name 
is  that  of  the  great  "medicine  drink"  of 
the  Creeks,  of  whom  the  Seminoles  are  an 
offshoot,  and  of  the  mixed  military  and 
religious  ceremony  in  which  it  is  used. 
The  name  is  more  properly  os'-y-o-hul'-la, 
and  is  taken  from  a  prolonged  note,  yo- 
hul'-la,  that  is  used  in  the  ceremony.  The 
whites  commonly  call  this  drink  "black 
drink,"  but  the  Creeks  call  it  "white 
drink,"  from  the  froth  on  the  black  liquid. 
It  is  a  decoction  of  the  leaves  of  the  cas- 
sena  or  yaupon  (ilex  vomit oria),  which 
the  whites  call  Appalachian,  Carolina,  or 
South  Sea  tea.  A  description  of  the  cere 
mony  will  be  found  in  Schoolcraft's  Ar 
chives,  Vol.  5,  p.  266. 

OSWEGO — Town  in  Kosciusko  County  at  the 
outlet  of  Tippecanoe  Lake.  The  name  is 
Iroquois.  Beauchamp  says:  "Os-we-go, 
Osh-wa-kee,  Swa-geh,  are  among  the 
forms  of  a  well  known  name.  It  means 
'flowing  out,'  or  'small  water  flowing  into 
291 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

that  which  is  large/  The  name  belongs 
to  the  river,  but  was  applied  to  the  lake 
by  the  Onandagas,  in  which  case  it  meant 
the  lake  at  Oswego."  The  Indiana  town 
is  on  the  site  of  the  Potawatomi  village  of 
Mes'-kwah-buk." 

OTSEGO — Township  in  Steuben  County.  The 
name  is  Iroquois,  taken  from  the  New 
York  lake.  Beauchamp  says :  "Ote-sa-ga 
is  Otsego  Lake,  and  traditionally  is  sup 
posed  to  refer  to  a  large  stone  at  its  out 
let.  In  the  last  century  the  name  also  ap 
peared  as  Os-ten-ha,  which  A.  Cusick 
tells  me  is  something  about  a  stone.  Coop 
er,  in  the  preface  to  Deerslayer,  says  that 
the  stone  above  mentioned  still  retained 
the  name  of  the  Otsego  Rock."  Cooper's 
story,  the  scene  of  which  was  about  this 
lake,  was  an  effective  agency  for  making 
the  name  popular. 

OTTAWA — The  earliest  known  name  applied 
to  the  Maumee  River,  on  account  of  this 
tribe  living  on  its  banks.  Ottawas,  or  its 
short  form  Tawas,  is  commonly  said  to 
mean  "traders;"  but  Lamothe  Cadillac,  in 
his  memoir  of  1695,  says:  "I  will  say  only 
that  the  word  Outaouas  signifies  in  our 
293 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

language  Nation  des  Nez  Percez,  because 
they  pierce  the  nose,  where  they  attach  a 
little  stone,  much  embellished,  which  falls 
to  the  middle  of  the  mouth,  between  the 
two  lips."  He  further  says  that  the  Ot 
tawa  s  were  divided  into  four  tribes:  "the 
Kiskakons,  that  is  to  say  Queues  Cou- 
pees;"  "the  Nation  du  Sable,  thus  called 
because  their  ancient  residence  was  in  a 
sandy  country;"  "the  Sinago;"  and  "the 
Nassauakueton,  that  is  to  say  the  Nation 
of  the  Fork." 

OUIATANON — This  is  the  form  to  which  the 
name  of  the  old  French  post  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Wabash,  just  below  Lafayette, 
finally  settled  after  existing  in  at  least  "57 
varieties."  The  title  of  the  tribe  of  the 
Miamis,  for  which  it  was  named,  ranged 
from  Ouaouiatanonouek  to  Ouias  in  the 
French,  and  from  Wawijachtenokes  to 
Weas  in  English.  The  pronunciation  of 
the  full  name  is  Wah'-we-ah'-tun-6ng.  It 
\vas  the  common  Algonquian  name  of  the 
Detroit  River,  and  of  Detroit.  Schoolcraft 
derives  it  from  "wa-we-a,  a  round  about 
course;  ah-tun,  a  channel;  and  ong,  local 
ity."  Our  tribe  probably  took  its  name 

293 


I 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

from  the  Detroit  River,  for,  in  1687,  Du- 
rantage  speaks  of  "the  Shawnees  and  Mi- 
amis,  for  a  long  time  proprietors  of  the 
said  country  of  the  Detroit  River  and  Lake 
Erie,  from  which  they  had  retired  for  some 
time  for  their  greater  utility;"  i.  e.,  to  La- 
Salle's  colony  on  the  Illinois.  The  name 
is  probably  not  of  Miami  origin,  for  in 
their  language  wah'-we-ah  appears  to  be 
restricted  to  the  meaning  "round,"  while 
"curved"  or  "crooked"  are  denoted  by 
wah-kakwh';  thus  the  full  moon  is  wah- 
we'-ah-sit,  i.  e.,  "the  round  one,"  and  the 
crescent  moon  is  wahk-shingh'-wah,  i.  e., 
"lying  crooked."  Post  Ouiatanon  was  lo 
cated  in  the  wrest  half  of  the  east  half  of- 
Sec.  27,  Tp.  23  N.,  R.  5  W.  The  site 
is  crossed  by  the  east  and  west  cen 
ter  line,  part  lying  in  the  N.  E. 
quarter  and  part  in  the  S.  E.  quarter.  It 
is  immediately  west  of  a  ravine  and  dry 
run,  which  separates  it  from  Sand  Ridge 
Church  and  cemetery.  Excavation  on  the 
east  side  opened  the  mixed  French,  In 
dian  and  British  burial  ground  of  the  fort, 
a  number  of  relics  from  which  are  pre 
served  at  Purdue  University.  The  local 

295 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

D.  A.  R.  has  unfortunately  put  up  a  me 
morial  tablet  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  real  site.  The  Indian  town  was 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  a  little  lower 
down,  on  what  is  now  called  Wea  Prairie. 

OWASCO — Postoffice  in  Carroll  County.  The 
name  is  Iroquois,  taken  from  the  lake  in 
New  York,  and  is  said  to  mean  "floating 
bridge." 

PATOKA — River  in  southwestern  Indiana, 
tributary  to  the  Wabash;  also  town  and 
island  in  Gibson  County,  and  township  in 
Pike  County,  named  for  the  river.  The 
river  is  said  to  have  been  named  for  a 
Musquakie  or  Fox  chief,  who  lived  in  the 
vicinity  more  than  a  century  ago.  There  is 
a  postoffice  and  township  of  the  same  name 
in  Marion  County,  111.  There  is  record 
of  a  Fox  chief  in  Illinois  whom  the  whites 
called  Patoka,  but  the  Indians  say  the 
name  is  properly  Pah-ta'-ko-to  (Pa-ta-go- 
to;  Pat-a-ca-to).  He  was  also  called  Tah- 
na'-ko-me,  and  was  of  the  Wolf  clan,  to 
which  the  name  Pah-ta'-ko-to  refers.  Mr. 
W.  C.  Kohlenberg,  superintendent  of  the 
Sac  and  Fox  agency,  writes  of  the  name: 
"It  refers  to  the  height  of  the  water  on  the 
296 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

side  of  a  wolf  in  crossing  a  stream.  In 
others  words,  they  say  it  almost  asks  the 
question,  of  a  wolf,  'How  high  did  the 
water  come  upon  you  in  wading  across 
the  stream?'  Mr.  (Henry  C.)  Jones  is 
one  of  the  best  interpreters  we  have,  but 
he  is  unable  to  give  any  other  meaning." 
On  this  basis  Patoka  may  be  translated 
"How  deep?"  and  the  great  fluctuations 
of  the  stream  would  make  the  name  quite 
appropriate.  I  think,  however,  the  name 
is  a  reference  to  some  Comanche  slave,  as 
these  were  quite  common  among  the  Illi 
nois  Indians.  The  French  called  them  Pa- 
doucas — a  slight  corruption  of  the  com 
mon  Algonquian  term  for  them.  In  some 
old  French  chronicles  it  is  Padocquia.  The 
Miami  form  of  this  word  for  Comanche  is 
Pah-to'-kah. 

PERU — The  site  of  this  city  was  called  by  the 
Miamis  ik'-ke-pis-sin'-noong,  or  Straight 
Place,  because  the  Wabash  at  this  point 
is  straight  for  about  two  miles. 

PIANKESHAW — A  tribe  of  the  Miamis,  whose 

chief  towns  were  on  the  Vermillion  River. 

In  1731,  part  of  them,  under  the  influence 

of  Sieur  de  Vincennes,  went  with  him  to 

297 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

his  new  post,  and  established  the  village 
known  as  Chip-kah'-ki,  or  Chip-kah'-ki- 
oon'-gi.  The  meaning  of  Piankeshaw  is 
uncertain,  but  Godfroy  says  that  the  idea 
it  conveys  to  him  is  of  something  scattered 
about  the  ears.  The  Miami  pronunciation 
is  pe-ung-gish'-ah. 

PIPE  CREEK — Stream  in  Cass  County,  and 
township  named  for  the  stream.  This  is 
a  literal  translation  of  the  Miami  name  of 
the  stream — Pwah-kah'-nah — a  pipe  for 
tobacco. 

PINJEWAH — Miami  name  of  Jean  Baptiste 
Richardville,  their  last  head  chief.  The 
"n"  of  the  first  syllable  is  nasal — the  pro 
nunciation  being  Pin-je'-wah.  It  was  or 
iginally  the  name  of  the  wildcat,  but  is  now 
commonly  used  for  the  domestic  cat.  He 
was  a  half-breed,  his  father  being  a  scion 
of  the  noble  French  house  of  Drouet  de 
Richardville,  and  his  mother  Tah-kum- 
wah  (On  the  Other  Side — i.  e.,  in  place), 
a  sister  of  Little  Turtle. 

PONCEAU    PICHOU — Handed   down    as    the 

name  of  Wildcat  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the 

Wabash.     It  is  an  American  corruption 

of  Panse  au  Pichou,  the  French  name  of 

298 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

the  stream,  which  is  a  literal  translation  of 
the  Miami  name  Pin-je'-wah-mo'-ti,  or 
Belly  of  the  Wildcat.  The  name  is  often 
written  Ponce  Passu  in  local  histories.  On 
old  French  maps  it  is  commonly  marked 
Riviere  Panse,  a  la  Panse,  or  de  la  Panse. 
POTAWATOMI — One  of  the  most  numerous 
of  the  Indiana  tribes.  Keating  gives  the 
pronunciation  as  Po-ta-waw-to'-me,  and 
says  it  means  "we  are  making  a  fire,"  but 
Quashma  gives  me  the  pronunciation  as 
Po-ta'-wot-me.  The  name  is  probably 
from  the  Odjibwa,  Po-da-wand-um-eeg,  or 
those  who  keep  the  fire.  The  Potawatomis, 
Odjibwas  and  Ottawas  were  very  closely 
related,  if  not  originally  one  people,  and 
called  themselves  "The  Three  Fires."  The 
Miami  name  of  the  Potawatomis  is  Wah- 
ho'-na-hah,  but  they  often  use  the  nick 
name,  P6-tosh'.  The  French  nicknamed 
them  Pous  (French  for  lice),  but  the 
meaning  is  accidental,  and  the  name  mere 
ly  an  abbreviation,  as  the  French  made 
the  first  syllable  of  their  full  name  "Pou." 
The  Potawatomis  became  largely  inter 
mixed  with  other  tribes  at  an  early  date, 
especially  with  the  Sauks  and  Foxes. 
299 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

PROPHET'S  TOWN — Indian  town  on  the  north 
side  of  the  Wabash,  below  the  mouth  of 
the  Tippecanoe,  at  which  Tecumtha  and 
The  Prophet  gathered  their  followers. 
The  Indian  name  of  The  Prophet  has  many 
dialect  variations,  due  to  his  association 
with  so  many  tribes.  Mr.  Frank  A. 
Thackeray,  superintendent  and  special 
agent  at  Shawnee,  Oklahoma,  writes  me: 
'The  brother  of  Tecumseh  (The  Prophet) 
is  best  known  among  the  Shawnees  by  the 
name  of  Tems-kwa-ta-wa.  The  meaning 
of  this  word  is  'one  who  keeps  open 
door/  " 

RACCOON — Big  Raccoon  Creek  is  a  stream 
of  western  Indiana,  tributary  to  the  Wa 
bash.  On  Hough's  map  it  is  marked  Che- 
que-ak,  which  is  evidently  intended  for 
the  Miami  nickname  Che'-kwi-ah,  or  She'- 
kwi-hah.  They  say  this  means  "a  poor 
'coon,"  but  can  give  no  intelligible  reason 
for  it.  The  Miami  word  for  raccoon  is 
a-say'pon.  Kil-so-kwa  thinks  that  She- 
kwi-hah  has  some  relation  to  she'-kwa- 
tah,  or  taking  marrow  out  of  bones.  The 
Indians  used  to  crack  bones,  and  extract 
the  marrow  for  food. 
300 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

ROANOKE — Town  in  Huntingdon  County. 
The  name  is  the  word  of  the  Virginia  In 
dians  for  the  shell  money  anciently  used  by 
them.  It  was  sometimes  written  "roe- 
noke;"  and  Capt.  John  Smith  wrote  it 
"rawrenock." 

ROCKPORT — County  seat  of  Spencer  County. 
In  Cockrum's  Pioneer  History  of  Indiana 
(p.  174)  is  given  the  statement  of  Joel 
Harden,  who  was  carried  captive  from 
Kentucky  by  a  mixed  party  of  Kickapoos 
and  Delawares,  that  the  name  of  the  site 
of  Rockport  "was  Yellow  Bank — in  the 
Kickapoo  language  Weesoe  Wusapinuk." 
There  is  some  confusion  in  this.  Weesoe 
Wusapinuk  is  Delaware  instead  of  Kick 
apoo,  and  "Yellow  Bank"  was  at  Owens- 
boro,  eight  miles  below  Rockport.  The 
site  of  Rockport  was  called  by  the  whites 
"Hanging  Rock,"  from  a  projecting  rock 
formation,  now  removed,  that  was  some 
times  known  as  "Lady  Washington's 
Rock." 

RUSSIAVILLE — Towrn    in    Howard    County. 

The  name  is  a  corruption  of  Richardville, 

which  was  the  French  name  of  Pin-je-wah, 

the  last  head  chief  of  the  Miamis,     The 

301 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

name  Richardville  was  commonly  pro 
nounced,  and  often  written,  Rush'-er-ville. 
The  county  was  originally  named  Richard 
ville,  for  this  chief,  but  the  name  was 
changed  to  Howard  in  honor  of  Gen. 
Tilghman  Howard. 

ST.  JOSEPHS  RIVER — The  principal  tributary 
of  Lake  Michigan  from  northern  Indiana 
and  southern  Michigan.  The  Potawato- 
mis,  in  whose  country  it  was,  call  it  Sahg'- 
wah-se'-be,  which  may  be  translated  "Mys 
tery  River."  Sahg'-wah  is  practically 
equivalent  to  our  term  "mushroom 
growth"  or  "spontaneous  growth,"  i.  e., 
something  that  springs  up  without  any 
known  seed.  Topash  says  that  the  name 
came  from  a  Potawatomi  legend  of  a 
strange  Indian,  who  was  found  on  the 
bank  of  this  stream,  and  no  one  ever 
learned  who  he  was,  or  whence  he  came. 
Hence  they  called  him  Sahg'-wah,  and 
gave  this  name  to  the  stream. 

ST.  JOSEPHS  RIVER — The  north  branch  of 
the  Maumee.  Kilsokwa  says  that  the  Mi 
ami  name  of  this  stream  is  Ko-chis'-ah- 
se-pe,  or  Bean  River. 

ST.  MARYS  RIVER — The  south  branch  of  the 

302 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

Maumee.  John  Johnson  said  that  the 
Shawnee  name  of  this  stream  was  Coko- 
theke  sepe,  or  Kettle  River.  On  Hough's 
map  it  is  marked  Ke-ke-ong-se-pe — evi 
dently  a  corruption  of  Ki'-ka-kon-se'-pe. 
See  Kekionga.  The  Miami  name  is  Mah- 
may'-i-wah-se-pe'-way,  or  Sturgeon 
Creek,  the  reference  being  to  the  fact  that 
the  sturgeon  formerly  resorted  to  the 
Maumee  and  its  tributaries  in  great  num 
bers  in  the  spawning  season. 
SALAMONIE — Tributary  of  the  Wabash, 
emptying  opposite  La  Gro.  The  spelling 
is  diverse — ranging  from  Sallimany  and 
Solimony  to  Salamonia  in  the  name  of  a 
town  in  Jay  County  which  is  named  for 
the  stream.  The  Miamis  call  the  stream 
O-sah'-mo-nee.  Both  this  and  the  Amer 
ican  name  are  corruptions  of  6n'-sah-la'- 
mo-nee,  the  Miami  name  of  the  blood- 
root  (sanguinaria  Canadensis).  Literally 
the  word  means  "yellow  paint" — from 
6n'-sah-wek — yellow  (inanimate),  and  la- 
mo-nee — paint.  The  plant  is  so  called  be 
cause  the  Indians  made  a  yellow  paint  or 
dye  from  it.  The  name  is  identical  with 
that  of  the  Miami  chief  who  lived  opposite 
303 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

its  mouth,  and  whom  the  French  called  Le 
Gros.  He  may  have  been  named  from  the 
stream,  or  the  stream  from  him. 

SHANKITUNK — Stream  in  Rush  County, 
tributary  to  Flat  Rock.  If  the  name  is  not 
much  corrupted  it  means  "Woody  Place," 
from  the  Delaware  tchanigeu,  meaning 
"woody,"  and  the  terminal  locative.  Pos 
sibly,  however,  it  is  corrupted  from  tchan- 
g-hit-tuk,  which  would  mean  "Woody 
Creek." 

SHAWNEE — Creek,  township  and  prairie  in 
Fountain  County,  named  for  the  Indian 
tribe,  a  band  of  which  lived  in  that  vicinity, 
having  a  town  at  or  near  the  village  of 
Shawnee  in  Tippecanoe  County.  They 
were  probably  Chartier's  band,  which 
moved  to  that  region  from  the  Allegheny, 
in  1745.  The  name  of  the  tribe,  in  all  the 
Algonquian  dialects,  means  "Southern 
ers."  The  Miami  form  is  shah-wahn'-wah. 

SHEPAHCANNAH — The  Miami  husband  of 
Frances  Slocum,  and  the  name  of  his  vil 
lage  on  the  Mississinewa.  She-pah'-kan- 
nah  is  the  name  of  the  awl  used  by  the 
Miamis  in  sewing  skins — an  instrument 
five  or  six  inches  long,  made  of  metal, 
304 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

bone,  or  hard  wood.  In  his  later  years 
She-pah'-can-nah  lost  his  hearing,  and 
was  thereafter  commonly  known  as  Ka- 
kip'-shah,  or  "Deaf."  For  this  reason  his 
village  was  commonly  known  to  the  whites 
as  "The  Deaf  Man's  Village." 

SIIIPSIIEWANA — Postoffice  in  Lagrange 
County,  also  creek  and  lake,  named  for  a 
Potawatomi  Indian.  Topash  says  it  is  a 
corruption  of  Shup'-she-wah'-no,  and 
means"  Vision  of  a  Lion."  Shup'-she  prob 
ably  meant  originally  a  fierce  beast  with  a 
large  head  and  mane,  and  is  now  applied 
specifically  to  the  lion.  Wah'-no  is  the 
name  given  to  any  vision  seen  after  a 
"medicine  fast." 

TATAPACIISIT — The  head  chief  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  otherwise  known  as  "The  Grand 
Glaize  King,"  who  was  executed  for 
witchcraft  in  1806;  also  the  village  on 
White  River  in  which  he  lived.  The  name 
occurs  in  numerous  forms,  such  as  Tala- 
poxie,  Telipockshy,  Teta  Buxika  and  Ted- 
pachksit.  Heckewelder  has  it  sometimes 
Tetepachski,  and  sometimes  Tatapachkse, 
and  Luckenbach  Tetepachsit.  It  is  iden 
tical  with  the  old  Pennsylvania  treaty  sig- 
305 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

nature  of  "Tatabaugsuy  or  The  Twisting 
Vine;"  but  there  is  nothing  in  the  name 
approaching  the  Delaware  words  for 
"twisting"  or  "vine."  Literally  "tata"  is 
an  emphatic  negative,  and  the  verb  poch'- 
6n  means  to  divide  by  force,  or  pull  apart. 
Such  a  name  would  not  be  given  to  any 
frail  vine,  and  the  one  notably  twisting 
woody  vine  of  the  Delaware  country  is  the 
American  Woodbine  (lonicera  grata},  of 
which  Tatapachske,  or  Tatapachsit,  is 
presumably  the  specific  Delaware  name. 

TECUMSEH — Postoffice  in  Vigo  County, 
named  for  the  celebrated  Tecumtha.  The 
name  means  "going  across,"  or  "crossing 
over."  The  common  interpretations  of 
"a  comet,"  "a  shooting  star,"  "a  panther 
leaping  on  its  prey,"  etc.,  are  probably 
derived  from  illustrations  of  the  meaning. 

THORNTOWN — Town  in  Boone  County,  on 
site  of  old  Indian  village  at  the  center  of 
"the  Thorntown  Reserve"  of  1818,  which 
was  relinquished  in  1828,  and  the  Indians 
removed  to  Eel  River.  The  Miami  name 
of  the  Indian  town  and  the  reservation  was 
Kah-we-6k'-ki-oong,  i.  e.,  Place  of  Thorns 
or  Thorn  town. 

306 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

TIPPECANOE — River,  tributary  to  the  Wa- 
bash;  also  postoffice,  lake,  county,  and 
townships  named  for  the  river.  The  Mi 
ami  name  of  the  stream  is  Ke-tap'-kwon, 
the  name  of  the  buffalo  fish,  which  was 
formerly  abundant,  and  is  still  common 
in  the  river  and  its  tributary  lakes.  Mc 
Coy  gives  the  Potawatomi  form  as  Ke- 
tap'-e-kon.  Our  word  "Tippecanoe"  is  a 
corruption  of  Ke-tap'-e-kon-nong  (i.  e., 
Ketapekon  town,  or  place),  the  name  of 
the  Indian  town  below  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  "Canoe"  is  not  a  word  of  the  North 
American  Indians.  There  was  a  band  of 
Miamis  whom  the  French  called  "Tepi- 
cons,"  and  this  is  probably  a  corruption 
of  the  name  of  the  river. 

TOPEAII — Reservation  in  Allen  County,  to 
Miami  chief  commonly  known  as  Francois 
Lafontaine.  The-  Miami  pronunciation  is 
To'-pi-ah,  and  Kilsokwa  says  it  means 
"Frost  on  the  Bushes,"  or  Leaves. 

TOPEKA — Postoffice  in  Lagrange  County, 
named  for  the  city  in  Kansas.  The  word 
is  commonly  said  to  mean  "potatoes,"  or, 
as  Kansas  jesters  allege,  "small  potatoes." 
This  is  indefinite  as  applied  to  Indian 
307 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

foods.  The  Kansas  Historical  Society 
adopts  Dunbar's  explanation  that  it  is  the 
Shawnee  name  of  "the  root  of  a  species 
of  sunflower  found  on  the  lowlands  of  the 
Kansas  River."  The  only  native  plant 
answering  to  this  description  is  the  Jeru 
salem  artichoke  (halianthus  tuberosus), 
the  tuberous  roots  of  which  were  a  com 
mon  food  of  the  Indians,  wherever  found. 

TRAIL  CREEK — A  tributary  of  Lake  Mich 
igan,  emptying  at  Michigan  City.  This 
name,  and  the  French  name,  Riviere  du 
Chemin,  are  translations  of  the  Potawato- 
mi  name,  Me-eh'-way-se-be-way.  The  old 
Indian  trail  from  Niles  to  Chicago  fol 
lowed  this  stream. 

TWIGHTWEES — Commonest  form  of  the 
name  given  by  the  English  to  the  Miamis 
living  about  Fort  Wayne.  The  English 
took  the  word  from  the  Iroquois,  and  its 
original  form  was  Twich-twich, — "ch" 
sounded  as  in  German — or  Twigh-twigh. 
This  is  very  like  the  word  for  "snipe" 
in  some  of  the  Iroquois  dialects,  and 
may  have  been  adopted  by  them  in 
derision  of  the  crane  totem  of  the  Mi- 
amis,  to  which  this  band  belonged.  On 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

the  other  hand,  Godfrey  informs  me  that 
"the  other  Indians,  especially  the  South 
ern  Indians,  called  the  Miamis  To-wa'-to- 
was,"  but  with  what  meaning  he  does  not 
know.  Brinton  suggests  that  the  name  is 
the  Delaware  ta-wa  (naked),  repeated  for 
emphasis;  but  there  was  no  reason  why 
the  Miamis  should  be  called  naked  by  any 
one,  and  especially  by  the  Delawares,  who 
were  their  friends.  Possibly  the  name 
arose  from  the  fact  that  the  Ottawas,  who 
were  commonly  called  "Tawas,"  resided  at 
the  same  place  before  the  Miamis,  and  the 
Iroquois  name  may  have  been  corrupted 
from  this. 

VERMILLION — River,  tributary  to  the  Wa- 
bash,  and  county  named  for  the  river.  Col 
onel  Croghan  says  that  the  stream  was 
"so  called  from  a  fine  red  earth  found  there 
by  the  Indians,  with  which  they  paint 
themselves."  On  Hough's  map  the  Indian 
name  is  given  as  "Osanamon,"  which  is  an 
Algonquian  name  of  vermilion  paint. 
Schoolcraft  says  it  is  compounded  of 
"osawa — yellow,"  and  "unimun,"  a  plant 
from  which  the  Indians  made  a  red  dye. 
This  accounts  for  the  French  name  of  the 

309 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

stream — "Vermilion  Jaime" — or  "Red- 
Yellow"  which  exactly  translates  the  In 
dian  name,  and  very  well  describes  the 
color.  The  National  Board  of  Geographi 
cal  Names  undertook  to  "reform"  the  spell 
ing  of  this  word  by  dropping  one  "1,"  but 
as  the  spelling  is  established  by  the  Indiana 
law  creating  the  county  it  cannot  legally 
be  changed  in  this  way.  Our  Miamis  now 
do  not  use  the  word  "osanimun,"  but  call 
vermilion  "la-mo'-nee,  which  is  the  gen 
eral  word  for  "paint,"  or  sometimes  na'- 
pe-kong-la-mo'-nee,  which  means  "red 
paint." 

WABASH — The  principal  river  of  Indiana, 
with  county,  city  and  townships  named  for 
it.  The  name  is  a  contraction  of  the  Mi 
ami  name  of  the  stream,  which  is  Wah- 
bah-shik-ki',  or  as  more  commonly  pro 
nounced,  wah-pah-shik'-ki — "b"  and  "p" 
being  convertible  in  the  Miami,  as  in  most 
Algonquian  languages.  The  name  is  an 
inflection  of  the  Miami  adjective  "white," 
which  in  its  simplest  (inanimate)  form  is 
wah-peek'.  Wah-bah-shik-ki  implies  that 
the  object  to  which  it  is  applied  is  bright, 
or  pure  white,  inanimate,  and  natural, 

310 


TAHKINGGAHMEOONGI. 
Treaty  Ground  at  Wabash. 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

such  as  a  bright  white  stone,  or  shell.  In 
this  case  the  name  refers  to  the  limestone 
bed  of  the  upper  part  of  the  stream.  If 
the  noun  qualified  stood  for  something 
artificial  that  was  pure  white,  such  as 
cloth,  or  paper,  the  adjective  form  would 
have  to  be  Wah-pah-kin'-gi.  The  some 
what  common  theory  that  Wabash  means 
"a  cloud  driven  by  the  equinoctial  wind" 
evidently  originated  from  mistaking  an  il 
lustration  for  a  definition. 
WABASH — County  seat  of  Wabash  County. 
The  Miami  name  of  the  location  was  Tah- 
king-gah'-me-oon'-gi,  or  "Running  Wa 
ter  Place;"  the  reference  being  to  a  cele 
brated  spring,  variously  known  as  Para 
dise  Spring,  Hanna's  Spring  and  Treaty 
Spring.  The  last  name  was  given  because 
the  treaty  of  1826  was  held  here.  The 
spring  was  located  about  one  hundred 
yards  west  of  the  Big  Four  depot,  on  the 
north  side  of  Market  street,  but  when  the 
street  was  improved  the  old  spring  was 
closed,  and  the  water  piped  across  the 
street  to  a  drinking  fountain.  This  is  now 
boxed  up,  and  the  water  carried  on  to  the 
Big  Four  round  house.  The  accompany- 

312 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

ing  map  of  the  treaty  grounds  was  made 
by  Elijah  Hackleman,  who  was  familiar 
with  them  while  the  buildings  were  still 
standing. 

WACO — Postoffice  in  Daviess  County.  The 
name,  imported  from  Texas,  is  that  of  a 
sub-tribe  of  the  Wichita  Indians.  It  is 
pronounced  way'-ko,  and  is  sometimes 
writen  in  the  Spanish  form,  Hueco.  It  is 
said  to  be  their  name  for  a  heron. 

WAKARUSA — Postoffice  in  Elkhart  County. 
The  name  is  imported  from  the  West,  be 
ing  the  same  as  Wau-ka-ru-sa,  a  stream  in 
Kansas.  It  is  commonly  said  to  mean 
"hip-deep,"  but  I  have  never  found  any 
statement  of  the  tribal  language  to  which 
it  belonged. 

WALUM  OLUM — The  chronological  record 
of  the  Delaware  Indians,  obtained  from 
those  living  on  White  River.  The  name  is 
pronounced  Wah'-lum  O'-lum,  and  means 
"painted  record." 

WrAPASEPAii — Reservation  in  Allen  County. 
The  name  is  a  corruption  of  Wah'-pah- 
say'-pon,  meaning  White  Raccoon.  The 
Miami  word  for  raccoon,  a-say'-pon,  is 
obviously  from  the  same  original  as  its 

313 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

Odjibwa  equivalent  aisebun,  which  School- 
craft  derives  from  ais  (a  shell)  and  ebun 
(it  was),  giving  a  legend  that  the  raccoon 
was  made  from  a  shell  by  the  Great 
Spirit. 

WAWASEE — Lake  and  postoffice  in  Kos- 
ciusko  County,  named  for  a  Potawatomi 
chief.  His  grandson,  Thomas  Topash, 
who  has  the  same  Indian  name,  says  it  is 
pronouncedWah-we-as'-see.  It  is  the  Pota 
watomi  name  of  the  full  moon,  and  liter 
ally  means  "the  round  one."  The  name 
originally  belonged  to  a  small  lake  some 
five  miles  southwest  of  the  present  Wa- 
lage;  and  the  present  Wawasee,  which  is 
partly  artificial,  being  made  by  the  dam  at 
Syracuse  which  united  several  small  lakes 
formerly  connected  by  Turkey  Creek,  was 
known  as  Nine  Mile  Lake  or  Turkey  Lake. 
The  change  was  made  by  Col.  Eli  Lilly, 
who  arranged  with  the  railroad  and  postal 
authorities  to  name  the  station  and  post- 
office  Wawasee.  Many  of  the  people  of 
the  neighboring  county  still  use  the  older 
names. 

WAWPECONG — Postoffice  in  Miami  County. 
The  name  is  a  corruption  of  wah'-pe-kon, 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

which  means  "white  bone."  The  reason 
for  selecting  the  name  is  not  known. 

WEA — Creek,  postoffice  and  prairie  in  Tip- 
pecanoe  County.  The  name  is  commonly 
pronounced  we'aw.  The  French  form  was 
ouia.  These  are  abbreviations  of  Wah-we- 
ah'-tung-ong,  or  Oua-oui-a-ta-non.  See 
Ouiatanon.  Godfroy  says  that  the  Wea 
village,  which  was  located  on  the  prairie, 
was  called  Wi'-ah-ton-oon'-gi,  or  Weah- 
tunong  Town. 

WESAW — Reservation  and  creek  in  Miami 
County,  named  for  the  Miami  chief  for 
whom  the  reservation  was  made.  The 
word  we'-saw  is  the  Miami  name  of  the 
gall-bladder  of  an  animal. 

WHITE  RIVER — The  largest  tributary  of  the 
Wabash,  in  central  Indiana.  It  was  orig 
inally  in  Miami  territory,  and  their  name 
for  it  is  Wah'-pi-kah-me'-ki,  or  "White 
Waters."  The  Delawares  at  first  used 
the  same  name,  varied  in  the  Unami  dia 
lect  to  O-pee-co-me-cah,  as  the  Unami 
use  "6-peek"  instead  of  "wah-peek"  for 
"white;"  but  later  they  commonly  called 
the  stream  Wah-pi-ha'-ni,  or  "White 
River."  On  two  of  the  oldest  French 

315 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

maps  White  River  is  marked  "Ouapika- 
minou"  and  "Oiapigaminou."  These  are 
evidently  attempts  at  the  Miami  name,  in 
which  the  engraver  has  mistaken  the  "k" 
of  the  final  syllable  for  an  "n." 

WINAMAC — County  seat  of  Pulaski  County, 
named  for  a  Potawatomi  chief,  whose 
name  appears  as  Wenameac,  Wenameck, 
Wynemac,  Winnimeg,  etc.  This  is  the 
Potawatomi  name  of  the  catfish,  derived 
from  wee'-nud,  meaning  "muddy,"  and 
mak,  "a  fish,"  indicating  the  preference  of 
most  species  of  catfish  for  muddy  water. 
Winamac  is  a  common  Potawatomi  name, 
and  appears  in  the  early  French  records 
as  Ouenemek.  The  one  for  whom  this 
town  was  named  figured  at  the  Fort  Dear 
born  massacre  as  friendly  to  the  whites, 
and  was  usually  so,  though  he  was  said  to 
have  been  with  the  hostiles  at  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe.  He  made  several  visits  to 
Washington,  and  died  in  the  summer  of 
1821.  There  is  a  sketch  of  him  in  Thatch 
er's  Indian  Biographies. 

WINNEBAGO — An  Indian  town  on  Wildcat 
Creek,  destroyed  by  the  troops  under  Gen 
eral  Hopkins  in  1812,  named  for  the  Win- 

316 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

nebago  tribe,  which  was  quite  largely  rep 
resented  among  the  followers  of  The 
Prophet.  It  contained  "about  forty  houses, 
many  of  them  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  in 
length,  besides  many  temporary  huts  in 
the  surrounding  prairie."  It  was  located 
on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Langlois 
Reserve,  adjoining  the  city  of  Lafayette. 
In  our  history  it  is  often  called  Village  du 
Puant,  because  the  French  called  the  Win- 
nebagos  "Puans,"  i.  e.,  fetid.  This  name 
implies  no  reflection  on  the  Winnebagos, 
who  were  cleanly  enough,  but  refers  to 
their  river — Winnipeg,  or  Winnipeek,— 
which  became  offensively  odorous  in  sum 
mer  from  dead  fish.  In  fact  Winnipeg 
may  mean  either  "stinking  water,"  "salt 
water,"  or  "turbid  water,"  and  there  has 
been  a  difference  of  opinion  from  the  ear 
liest  times  as  to  which  was  intended  in  the 
tribal  name,  with  no  prospect  of  its  ever 
being  definitely  settled.  Schoolcraft  says 
that  the  Winnebagos  call  themselves 
Hochungara  (Trout  nation)  or  Horoji 
(Fish  Eaters). 

WINONA — Originally  the  name  of  a  post- 
office  on  Bass  Lake — otherwise  known  as 

317 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

Cedar  Lake — in  Starke  County,  but  now 
monopolized  by  the  Winona  Assembly  for 
Winona  Lake — formerly  Eagle  Lake- 
near  Warsaw.  The  name  is  the  same  as  the 
Wenonah  of  Longfellow's  Hiawatha.  Wi- 
no'-nah  is  a  Sioux,  female,  proper  name, 
signifying  a  first-born  child.  If  the  first 
born  is  a  boy,  the  name  given  is  Chas'-kay, 
and  in  that  case  there  can  be  no  Winona 
in  the  family.  When  sex  is  not  desired  to 
be  indicated  the  Sioux  word  for  "first 
born"  is  to-kah'-pah,  which  is  the  numeral 
"first"  and  is  also  used  as  a  comparative, 
meaning  the  elder  or  larger  of  two.  In  this 
sense  it  is  the  counterpart  of  ha-kah'-ta, 
which  means  the  younger  or  smaller.  The 
name  Winona  was  first  introduced  to  the 
reading  public  by  Keating's  pathetic  ac 
count,  in  his  Narrative  of  Long's  Expedi 
tion,  of  the  Sioux  maiden  who  committed 
suicide  because  her  relatives  sought  to 
make  her  wed  against  her  will.  Since  then 
it  has  been  a  popular  name  for  Indian 
girls  with  American  writers. 
WYALUSING — Stream  in  Jennings  County, 
tributary  to  the  east  fork  of  White 
River.  The  name  comes  from  Pennsyl- 

318 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

vania,  where  it  is  given  to  a  small  tribu 
tary  of  the  Susquehanna.  It  was  also  the 
Delaware  name  of  the  Moravian  Mission 
of  Friedenshuetten  (Tents  of  Peace) 
which  was  located  near  the  mouth  of  this 
stream.  As  to  the  meaning,  Heckewelder 
says:  "Wyalusing  Creek.  M'chwihillusink 
(properly)  is  at  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
hoary  veteran.  An  ancient  warrior  hav 
ing  resided  on  that  creek  about  one  mile 
above  the  town  was  the  cause  of  this  place 
being  so  named,  in  remembrance  of  him." 
WYANDOTTE — Postoffice  in  Crawford  Coun 
ty,  and  formerly  one  in  Tippecanoe  Coun 
ty.  The  latter  adjoins  what  is  known  as 
the  Richardville  reservation,  on  which  was 
located  "The  Wyandot  Town"  where  the 
Miami  treaty  of  1828  was  made.  The 
name  is  from  the  tribe.  Heckewelder  says 
it  was  Ahouandate,  but  early  chroniclers 
usually  wrote  it  Yendat,  or  Wendat. 
Opinions  differ  as  to  the  meaning,  but 
Horatio  Hale  is  probably  right  in  his  view 
that  it  means  "People  of  One  Speech." 
The  French  called  these  Indians  "Hur- 
ons,"  referring  to  their  hair,  which  they 

319 


INDEX  GLOSSARY 

.wore  like  the  Ottawas  in  a  bristling  band 
across  the  head  from  front  to  back. 
YELLOW  RIVER — Stream  in  northern  Indi 
ana,  tributary  to  the  Kankakee.  Brinton 
identifies  this  with  the  Wisawana  (Yellow 
River)  of  the  Walum  Olum,  but  Ra- 
finesque  thinks  the  Wisawana  was  the 
Missouri.  The  Potawatomi  name  of  the 
Indiana  stream  is  Way-thow'-kalr  mik, 
which  means  Yellow  Waters. 


Massacres  of  the  Mountains:   a  His 
tory  of  the  Indian  Wars  of 
the  Far  West 

BY   JACOB  PIATT   DUNN 


"Of  the  many  volumes  which  have  been  written  on  our 
Indian  wars,  this  of  Mr.  Dunn  is  entitled  to  rank  among 
the  best,  if  not  as  the  very  best." — The  Critic. 


''Mr.  Dunn's  book  has  the  great  merit  of  sincere  effort 
to  bring  the  actual  situation  and  the  prejudices  and  habits 
of  both  sides  into  view." — The  Nation. 


"A  book  which  embodies  a  great  deal  of  research,  re 
counts  much  straightforward  history,  and  furnishes  enough 
of  romance,  tragedy  and  pathos  to  stir  by  turns  the  reader's 
interest,  pity  and  indignation." — The  Literary  World. 


"It   is   a  history — full,   accurate,   just   and  teeming  with 
dramatic  interest." — Harper's  Monthly. 


Published  by  Harper  &  Brothers.     Price  $3.75.     For  salt 
by  all  dealers. 


Indiana:  A  Redemption  from  Slavery 

(American  Commonwealth  Series) 

BY    JACOB   PIATT    DUNN 


'The  story  is  beautifully  told.  Home  life  is  represented. 
Customs  and  dress  and  methods  of  labor  are  described. 
We  have  a  genuine  history  of  the  first  people  of  that  great 
region." — Public  Opinion. 


"Mr.  Dunn  has  struck  on  the  line  of  genuine  interest 
and  dignity,  which  runs  through  the  history  of  the  states 
formed  on  the  soil  of  the  Northwest  Territory." — N.  Y. 
Independent. 


"Excepting  Prof.  Johnston's  'Connecticut,'  we  may  pro 
nounce  this  last  volume  the  most  scholarly  of  the  series. 
It  certainly  ranks  in  the  very  first  grade." — The  Critic. 


"It  is  a  most  interesting  book; — all  through  it  the 
reader's  closest  attention  is  gladly  given." — The  School 
Journal. 


"His  volume  is  in  every  respect  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  an  exceedingly  valuable  series." — Boston  Traveler. 


Published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     Price  $1.25.     For 
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